TNI-AL Looking for Colibri Replacement

03 Februari 2021

Puspenerbal EC-120B Colibri helicopter (photo : Landy Roy Panji)

For nearly two decades, the Eurocopter EC-120B Colibri has been serving the Indonesian Navy Aviation (Pusat Penerbangan Angkatan Laut – PUSPENERBAL) in role of rotary wing training.

3 EC-120B were procured to replace the ageing Aerospatialle SA. 313 Allouette 2 helicopters. They were part of Skuadron 200 (RON 200) at LANUDAL Juanda near Surabaya.

As PUSPENERBAL continues to be modernised, it is about time that the Colibri are to be replaced.

Having said that, it is believed that after many years of using French made helicopters for such role, the Indonesian Navy is now looking at other types of helicopters as potential successor to the Colibri.

The Bell 505 Jet Ranger has been selected by Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) as successor to its Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopters in primary training role. On the other hand, another Bell 206 operator in Japan, the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) is using Airbus Helicopters TH-135 helicopters instead.

Riding on the success of its UH-72 Lakota which also served as trainers for the US Army and with the US Navy Test Pilot School (USNTPS), Airbus Helicopters has offered its TH-135 to the US Navy as part of the TH-X program. Apparently, this has been won by Leonardo TH-73.

The TH-73A is based on the A-119 Koala platform. The A-119 is essentially a variant from the popular A-109 helicopters.

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) had once operate 3 A-109 for advanced pilot training after naval aviators graduated from the locally assembled AS-350 Squirrel helicopters. The AS-350 has been replaced by EC-135 while the A-109 has been replaced by Bell 427 helicopters.

(MFH)