Airbus Helicopters H145

Updated: October 2026 – A red-and-yellow or white-and-red helicopter sets down at the hospital, a blue-and-silver one circles over the highway, an olive-green one flies low over the countryside: chances are good that every time it was an Airbus Helicopters H145. The twin-engine multi-role helicopter from Donauwörth is one of the most common rotorcraft in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On this page you will learn how to identify it with confidence, how to tell the four-blade and five-blade versions, the H135 and the predecessor EC145 apart, and how to get good helicopter photos.

What is the Airbus H145?

The H145 is a light twin-engine helicopter in the four-ton class that Airbus markets as a multi-role aircraft: air rescue, police, search and rescue, offshore flights, corporate and private transport as well as military roles. It is powered by two Safran Arriel 2E turbines with digital engine control (FADEC). According to the Airbus data sheet, the maximum takeoff weight is 3,800 kilograms, the recommended cruise speed 241 km/h and the range with standard tanks about 650 kilometers.

The roots go back a long way. The basis is the BK 117, which MBB and Kawasaki developed together. Eurocopter later developed it further, enlarged the cabin and took over the cockpit and avionics of the EC135, creating the EC145, which took off on its first flight in Donauwörth on June 12, 1999. Kawasaki remained a partner and still builds and markets the family in Japan today under the designation BK117.

In 2011 Eurocopter presented the heavily reworked EC145 T2 at Heli-Expo: new engines, modern avionics and – visually most important – a Fenestron instead of the open tail rotor. EASA granted certification in April 2014, with the FAA following in October. When Eurocopter became Airbus Helicopters, the T2 got the new name H145 in 2015. You can find more about the group behind it on the page about Airbus.

Airbus puts the H145 family fleet at more than 2,150 delivered aircraft and over 8.5 million flight hours. The most important final assembly is in Donauwörth in Bavaria, the large German site of Airbus Helicopters.

The three features that are enough to identify it

Helicopters often look alike at first glance. For the H145, three observations help you, and they work from some distance too.

Size and proportions help with the rest: the H145 is a tall, fairly bulbous helicopter with skids and sliding doors on both sides. As always, the final certainty comes from the registration. German civil helicopters carry registrations with the prefix D-H, Swiss aircraft start with HB-. How registrations are structured is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations.

Four blades or five?

At Heli-Expo 2019 in Atlanta, Airbus presented a new version with a five-blade, bearingless main rotor. The rotor head does without classic hinges and looks correspondingly tidy. According to Airbus, this brings 150 kilograms more payload and a smoother flight. EASA certified the five-blade version in June 2020, and the first aircraft went to the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation as launch customer in September 2020.

Feature	EC145 (C-2)	H145 four-blade (D-2)	H145 five-blade (D-3)
Tail rotor	open	Fenestron	Fenestron
Main rotor blades	4	4	5
Engines	Arriel 1E2	Arriel 2E	Arriel 2E
Certification (EASA or LBA)	2000	2014	2020
Type code	EC45	EC45	EC45

Important for spotters: many operators have retrofitted their four-blade aircraft to five blades, including ADAC Luftrettung with its former EC145 T2 fleet. An older year of manufacture therefore does not automatically mean four blades. If you want to document the version cleanly, count the blades on your photo.

H145, H135 or EC145?

The most common mix-up happens with the smaller H135, which also has a Fenestron, skids and an almost identical cockpit windshield. No wonder: the EC145 cockpit was derived from the EC135. The finder helps you narrow it down.

Compared with fixed-wing aircraft the differences are obvious, of course. It gets more interesting with helicopters from other manufacturers of similar size – here the Fenestron almost always helps, because it is a typical feature of Airbus helicopters.

Where you will find the H145

The H145 is at home mainly where people in distress, security and the military are concerned. For spotters this means: most sightings do not happen on the observation deck, but on the move, at hospitals or at mission stations.

Air rescue in Germany: According to its own information, ADAC Luftrettung operates an all-Airbus fleet of H135s and H145s, which by now also includes five-blade H145s. DRF Luftrettung also relies on the H145 and ordered further five-blade aircraft in 2020 and 2024. In Germany, rescue helicopters fly under call names like “Christoph” with a number, which helps you identify them on the radio or on tracking services.

Police: Several state police forces fly the H145, including Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg with the five-blade version. Police helicopters often circle over an area for longer – ideal for taking a few pictures in peace.

German Armed Forces: Since 2019 the Army Aviation has used a few H145 LUH SAR for search and rescue tasks. Added to that is the big order for the H145M: in December 2023 the German Armed Forces ordered up to 82 aircraft, and in November 2024 the first one was handed over in Donauwörth. The Army uses it as a Light Attack Helicopter (Leichter Kampfhubschrauber, LKH), and a small share goes to special forces. What to keep in mind when photographing around barracks and military airbases is in the article Photographing military airfields: rules.

Switzerland: Rega has used the H145 in the lowlands since 2018 and in 2022 ordered a total of 21 five-blade H145s, with which it is also equipping its mountain bases and replacing its AW109SPs. Rega has its headquarters at Zurich Airport – one more reason to watch for red-and-white helicopters at Observation deck B of Zurich Airport.

Place	Chance of a hit	Why
Air rescue stations and hospital landing sites	high	ADAC, DRF and Rega fly the H145 every day
Police airfields	medium to high	Several state police forces use the type
German Armed Forces sites and training areas	medium	H145M and LUH SAR entering or in service
Large commercial airports	low to medium	Bases of individual operators, ferry flights, maintenance flights

Many rescue and police helicopters transmit ADS-B data and so show up on flight tracker services, but some flights are deliberately filtered. How to follow flights live and what the data reveals is explained in the guide to flight tracking with ADS-B.

Spotting with consideration: helicopters on a mission

For hardly any other aircraft are the surroundings as sensitive as for the rescue helicopter. A few ground rules are therefore mandatory.

Whether your vantage point is fine in general is covered in the article Is plane spotting allowed?. Photographing is much more relaxed at air shows and aviation events, where helicopters are often on static display or shown in a flypast – you will find dates in the overview of air shows in Europe.

Photo tips specifically for the H145

With helicopters a single value decides the picture: the shutter speed. With a very short exposure you freeze the rotor, and the helicopter looks as if it is about to fall out of the sky.

The same technique as for propeller aircraft also works for the rotor; details are in the guide Photographing propellers: the right shutter speed. When the light is right at your location is something you work out with the sun position planner guide, and which gear you need is shown in the plane spotting gear checklist. Helicopters often fly low – a medium telephoto zoom is usually perfectly enough.

H145M and international military versions

The military line has a history of its own. As early as 2006 the US Army chose the EC145 as the basis for its light utility helicopter, the UH-72 Lakota, built in Columbus, Mississippi. The H145-based military version H145M – originally called the EC645 T2 – received its EASA certification in May 2015 and can be fitted with the HForce weapon system.

For spotters in Germany the German Armed Forces order is the most exciting part: with up to 82 H145Ms it is the largest H145M order Airbus has reported so far. The helicopters carry military identifiers instead of civil D-H registrations, and their operations naturally take place less publicly. Military helicopters often appear at open days or air shows – there you can usually photograph quite relaxed. If you want to go deeper into military aircraft, you will find more ideas in the article Spotting rare aircraft.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The H145 is the helicopter you are most likely to see at work in Central Europe: over the highway, at the hospital, over police operations or on the military training area. Fenestron and rear clamshell doors give you the type, the blade count the version, the registration the confirmation. It stays exciting because fleets are changing a lot right now – five-blade retrofits, new Rega aircraft and the H145M with the German Armed Forces ensure there is always something new to discover. If you are just getting started, the introduction Plane spotting for beginners will get you on course quickly.