Aerospatiale/Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin

Updated: October 2026 – A slender helicopter with a long, drawn-out nose glides over the coast, wheels retracted, and in the tail, instead of an open rotor, a shrouded Fenestron hums: that is most likely a Dauphin. Since the seventies, the family has flown for coast guards, navies, police, offshore operators and VIP customers. With the enlarged EC155, now H155, it got a five-blade big brother. Here you learn how the Dauphin came about, which variants exist, how to identify it with confidence and where you are most likely to get it in front of your lens.

What is the AS365 Dauphin?

The AS365 is a twin-engine medium-class multirole helicopter. With a maximum takeoff weight of around 4.3 tonnes in the N3 version, it sits above light twins like the H135 and below large types like the H175. The standard cabin has room for 11 to 12 passengers, clearly fewer in a VIP layout. On top of that come one or two pilots.

Three elements define it technically: the four-blade Starflex main rotor with blades made of composite material, the shrouded tail rotor Fenestron and a retractable nose-wheel landing gear. The widespread AS365 N3 version is powered by two Arriel 2C turboshaft engines, which originally came from Turbomeca; the engine builder is part of Safran today. Depending on the source, the output is a good 620 kilowatts per engine.

The combination of two engines, compact dimensions and high speed made the Dauphin an all-rounder. It flies offshore crews to platforms, rescues people from distress at sea, launches from frigates and helicopter carriers and takes business travelers from city to city. Production ran in Marignane near Marseille, not far from Marseille Airport, where Airbus Helicopters still operates its main French plant today.

From the single-engine SA 360 to a success story

It began with a flop. In the early seventies, Aérospatiale was looking for a successor to the aging Alouette III and a gap between the Gazelle and the Puma. The single-engine SA 360 Dauphin first flew on June 2, 1972 and set several speed records in its weight class the following year at the Paris Aérosalon. It hardly sold, though: apart from two prototypes, only 34 production aircraft were built.

The solution was a second engine. The twin-engine Dauphin 2 flew on January 24, 1975. The first production version SA 365C received French certification in July 1978, with American and British certification following in the same year, and deliveries began in December 1978. The real breakthrough came with the thoroughly reworked SA 365N, which first took off on March 31, 1979 and was delivered from 1982. Among other things, it brought the retractable gear and an improved fuselage.

Over the following decades, the Dauphin grew in small steps:

Version	Engines	Fenestron	Special feature
SA 365C	Arriel 1	13 metal blades	first production version, still with fixed gear
SA 365N / AS365 N	Arriel 1C	reworked	retractable gear, market breakthrough
AS365 N1	Arriel 1C1	11 wider blades	quieter, more power
AS365 N2	Arriel 1C2	further developed	more power, higher weights
AS365 N3	Arriel 2C	10 composite blades	more hot-and-high performance

The blade count in the Fenestron dropped across the versions from 13 metal blades on the SA 365C to ten composite blades on the N3. For spotters with close-up shots, that is a detail that lets you tell early and late versions apart.

In 1991, Aérospatiale showed what the airframe is capable of with the AS365 X test aircraft: with a five-blade rotor and a smaller Fenestron, it reached 372 km/h on a three-kilometer measuring course on November 19, 1991. In total, around 1,100 Dauphin 2 were built. The 1,000th aircraft went to the Indian operator Pawan Hans in April 2011, and production ran out in the early 2020s.

The offshoots: Dolphin, Panther, Z-9 and EC155

Hardly any helicopter has spawned so many relatives. For spotters, four lines matter.

HH-65 / MH-65 Dolphin: In 1979, the US Coast Guard chose the SA 366 G1 as the successor to its Sikorsky HH-52As. The Dolphins were assembled in Grand Prairie, Texas, and entered service in the mid-eighties. Originally they flew with Lycoming engines, later they received Arriel 2C2s. Through the HH-65C and MH-65D versions, the modernization led to the MH-65E with a digital glass cockpit, whose deliveries were completed in 2024. In 2025, the Coast Guard announced it would replace the fleet over the next few years with helicopters based on the Sikorsky MH-60. Anyone traveling along the US coast will still see the red-and-white Dolphins for the time being, though.

AS565 Panther: the military version with a reinforced airframe, often with onboard radar and equipment for ship-based operations at navies. The French Navy also uses civil Dauphins for search and rescue alongside the Panther. As the successor to this fleet, France has chosen the H160M Guépard; in the interim, the Navy flies leased H160s in SAR service.

Harbin Z-9: On October 15, 1980, China bought the license, and in 1981 the first aircraft assembled in China flew. Harbin developed its own family from it with naval, transport and armed variants, of which more than 200 were built.

EC155 / H155: the stretched further development, internally initially called the AS365 N4. More on that in the next section.

EC155 and H155: the big brother

The EC155 flew on June 17, 1997 in Marignane, initially based on a converted Dauphin airframe. In December 1998, the French and German authorities granted certification, and in March 1999 the type entered service – with the German Bundespolizei as the first operator. It procured a total of 20 aircraft, the last two arriving in 2012.

Compared with the AS365, the EC155 is visibly larger. The cabin is longer and taller, the windows are more generous, and instead of four blades, the Spheriflex rotor carries five blades with a diameter of 12.6 meters. The improved EC155 B1 version came in 2002 with more powerful Arriel 2C2 engines, with the Government Flying Service in Hong Kong as launch customer. Up to 13 passengers fit in, and the maximum takeoff weight of the B1 is just under five tonnes.

With the renaming of Eurocopter to Airbus Helicopters, the EC155 became the H155 in 2015. In the same year, Airbus unveiled the H160, which in the program explicitly takes the place of the AS365 and EC155. At many operators, the H160 is now also replacing older Dauphin generations.

Feature	AS365 N3 Dauphin	EC155 B1 / H155
ICAO type designator	AS65	EC55
Main rotor blades	4 (Starflex)	5 (Spheriflex)
Rotor diameter	11.94 m	12.60 m
Engines	2 × Arriel 2C	2 × Arriel 2C2
Max. takeoff weight	4.3 t	around 4.9 t
Passengers	11 to 12	up to 13

The three features that are enough to identify it

There are quite a few medium twin-engine helicopters with wheeled landing gear. With the Dauphin, three observations get you there.

As with all helicopters, the registration gives the final certainty. How the country prefixes are structured is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations. A broader overview of the features of rotary-wing aircraft is offered by the guide Recognizing helicopter types.

Dauphin, H155 or H160?

Especially in France and with rescue services, the old and new generations meet. The finder helps you narrow it down.

Where to find the Dauphin and H155

The Dauphin is widespread worldwide but unevenly distributed. Its domain is coasts, naval bases and state flight services.

Germany: Here, above all the Bundespolizei EC155 is a household name, used by the flight squadrons (Fliegerstaffeln) since 1999 for transport and operational flights. The state police forces in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg also procured two aircraft each, mainly for special operations units; North Rhine-Westphalia has since given its aircraft up. In addition, individual EC155s fly with private operators. You see the four-blade AS365 in Germany more as a guest.

France and the coasts of Western Europe: The French Navy, the civil protection service Sécurité Civile and offshore operators have shaped the Dauphin for decades. On French coasts, around the naval bases and at the manufacturer in Marignane, the chances are good, even though the H160 is gradually taking over there.

Coast guards worldwide: Besides the US Coast Guard, the Greek and Icelandic coast guards and the Spanish Guardia Civil, among others, use or used the Dauphin. It is also widespread in Asia, for example with Pawan Hans in India, with operators in Japan or the state flight service in Taiwan.

Hong Kong: The Government Flying Service was launch customer of the EC155 B1. Today, the GFS relies mainly on the H175 for rescue missions, which is based at Hong Kong Airport. For a trip there, the guide Plane spotting in Hong Kong is worthwhile.

Location	Chance of a hit	Why
Bundespolizei locations in Germany	medium to high	EC155 as part of the Bundespolizei fleet
French coast, naval bases	medium	Dauphin and Panther with the Navy and civil protection, H160 taking over step by step
US coast (Coast Guard stations)	high	MH-65 in daily SAR service, replacement announced
Airbus plant Marignane	medium	Maintenance, modernization and factory flights
German commercial airports	low	Ferry flights and guests rather rare

State helicopters do not always transmit complete ADS-B data. How to track down police, rescue and offshore flights anyway is in the article Finding helicopters on the flight tracker.

Photo tips specifically for the Dauphin

The Dauphin is an elegant subject, especially in side profile with the gear retracted. A few points help you get a better picture.

The exposure technique is the same as with propeller aircraft; details are in the guide Photographing propellers: the right shutter speed. You can find general tips for rotary-wing aircraft in the article Spotting helicopters. With the sun position planner and the wind and runway information in Planetrack, you see in advance from which direction the light and approach come. Special rules apply at naval and military sites; what you need to observe there is explained in the article Photographing military airfields: rules.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The Dauphin has an astonishing career behind it: from a single-engine shelf-warmer came one of the most-built medium twin-engine helicopters in the world, with offshoots in the USA, China and the militaries of many countries. With the EC155/H155 it got a bigger brother, and with the H160 it now has a successor. For spotters, it remains a rewarding subject – elegant, easy to recognize and still in daily service on many coasts. Fenestron, dolphin nose and retractable gear give the family, the blade count the variant, the registration the confirmation.