Airbus Helicopters H215
The Super Puma Mk I kept in production under a new name — a lower-cost heavy lifter beside the H225 · Renamed H215 2015 · Airframe first flew 1978
Airbus Helicopters kept the Mark I Super Puma in production long after the EC225 arrived. In 2012 Eurocopter launched the lower-cost AS332 C1e, with Starlite Aviation as launch customer, and L1s with avionics brought up to EC225 level were sold as the L1e. In 2015 the line was renamed H215, with H215M for the military Cougar.
In November 2015 Airbus announced that final assembly would move to a new purpose-built plant in Brașov, Romania, building a single baseline aircraft that is then customised for civil or military customers. The H215 keeps the Makila 1A1 engines and four-blade rotor of the L1 and is pitched at utility, firefighting, offshore and search-and-rescue work, with a 4.5-tonne sling load.
Existing fleets have been brought up to the same standard: the Finnish Border Guard sent its older AS332 L1s to Romania in the late 2010s to be modernised to H215 standard for maritime patrol and rescue, with FLIR, a four-axis autopilot and de-icing equipment.
