Army contracts civilian AME helicopters

CHC Helicopter has announced (but the ADF has not) that it has signed a 21-month contract with the Australian Army to provide aeromedical evacuation (AME) and crash-response support for deployments throughout Australia.

CAPTION: A CHC Helicopter SAR helicopter performs a training flight through a gorge in the Katherine region. CHC Helicopters (Australia) provides a search-and-rescue response to all ejection-seat fitted aircraft serving in the RAAF – and now also for major Army exercises. The helicopters are based at  RAAF Bases Tindal, Pearce, East Sale, Williamtown and Amberley. Photo by Corporal Terry Hartin.

The contract will commence on 1 October 2016 and run to 30 June 2018.

CHC currently provides search and rescue services to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and will use that fleet to provide services to Army.

An industry leader in rotary aviation, CHC is one of the leading commercial helicopter operators in the world.

CHC is Australia’s leading provider of helicopter search and rescue (SAR) and emergency medical services (EMS) with operations in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory.

“We are honoured that Australian Army has chosen CHC to provide their AME and crash response support while their soldiers are on training deployment,” said Nick Mair, CHC Regional Director Asia Pacific.

“CHC has long provided search and rescue support to RAAF and we are delighted to extend our services to the Australian Army. Our highly trained and experienced SAR/AME pilots, aircrew, engineers and ground operations team are looking forward to supporting Army over the coming months.”

The medical team for the contract, including a dedicated doctor and paramedic, will be provided by Medical Rescue Air Ambulance (MRAA), a current provider of CHC.

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