{"id":67454,"date":"2026-09-24T21:47:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T19:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=67454"},"modified":"2026-09-24T21:47:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T19:47:46","slug":"the-spanish-armys-bhelma-iv-begins-the-renewal-of-its-helicopter-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/09\/24\/the-spanish-armys-bhelma-iv-begins-the-renewal-of-its-helicopter-fleet\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spanish Army's BHELMA IV begins the renewal of its helicopter fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Spansish Army Airmobile Force (FAMET) has taken another step this week toward renewing its helicopter fleet.<\/p>\n

The Spanish Army completes its first maximum range flight with the NH90 helicopter<\/a><\/rel>
\nSpain buys 100 military helicopters from Airbus, including 50 H145Ms for the FAMET<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

On June 17, the Ministry of Defence announced the arrival of a new NH90 for FAMET<\/a>\u2014the first delivered under the National Helicopter Plan, announced in December 2025, which entails the purchase of 100 military helicopters of various models from Airbus<\/a>: specifically 50 H145Ms<\/strong> (all for FAMET), 31 NH90s<\/strong> (13 for FAMET, 12 for the Air Force, and 6 for the Navy), 13 H135s<\/strong> (12 for the Air Force and 1 for the Navy), and 6 H175Ms<\/strong> (all intended to replace the Air Force's VIP helicopters).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Army has announced<\/a> that on Tuesday, September 22, the 4th Maneuver Helicopter Battalion (BHELMA IV) received its first NH90 helicopter<\/strong>\u2014the one delivered by Airbus in June.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

At the reception ceremony, the new helicopter was escorted by two AS-532 Cougar transport helicopters<\/strong> upon its arrival at the \"El Copero\" Military Base in Dos Hermanas (Seville), the home base of the aforementioned battalion.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"El Copero\" Base was built in 1939. It initially belonged to the Air Force but was transferred to the Army on December 30, 1975<\/strong>, initially housing two helicopter units\u2014UHEL II and UHEL IV\u2014which were merged into the Southern Helicopter Group (AHEL SUR) with a fleet of 12 UH-1H Hueys and 3 OH-58A Kiowas; these were replaced between 1980 and 1981 by AB-212s and MBB B\u00f6-105s. The unit was redesignated BHELMA IV in 1987<\/strong> and received its first Cougars in 1998. In addition to housing BHELMA IV, \"El Copero\" is also the home base of the 74th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

BHELMA IV currently operates 16 Cougar helicopters, which will be progressively replaced by the new NH90s and transferred to BHELMA VI, based at Los Rodeos (Tenerife).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Regarding the arrival of the first NH90 at BHELMA IV, the Army stated: \"The NH-90 strengthens response, deployment, and support capabilities for ground units<\/strong>, establishing itself as a key element in the modernization of the Army's Airmobile Forces.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Furthermore, the Army has noted that BHELMA IV\u2019s duties include infiltration and exfiltration missions for special operations units<\/strong>, tactical air transport, external load transport, medical evacuation, and parachute drops. On July 30, Airbus Helicopters announced the new NH90 Standard 2<\/a>, a version specifically designed for special operations<\/strong>, noting that the 31 NH90s acquired by Spain under the National Helicopter Plan will feature a similar configuration.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Infodefensa has reported that BHELMA IV expects to receive 16 NH90s<\/a>, with deliveries to be completed by 2028. In addition, the battalion will receive 6 H145M light helicopters<\/strong>, bringing its fleet to a total of 22 aircraft.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Elpespunte.es has reported that BHELMA IV plans to carry out a major overhaul of its facilities<\/a>, involving the demolition of the three existing hangars<\/strong> and the construction of a new, large-scale hangar to house the new helicopter fleet. A new workshop building is also planned. The base renovation will also include its apron and flight strips.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

---<\/p>\n

Images: Ej\u00e9rcito de Tierra \/ Ministerio de Defensa.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Spansish Army Airmobile Force (FAMET) has taken another step this week toward renewing its helicopter fleet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19630,15961,11544],"tags":[27942,13466,16673,12539,13220,7148,1048,8245,11558,11462,10557],"class_list":["post-67454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1a-plana-defense-eng","category-bloque-6-english","category-army","tag-el-copero-military-base","tag-airbus-helicopters-h145","tag-andalusia","tag-batallon-de-helicopteros-de-maniobra-iv-bhelma-iv","tag-dos-hermanas","tag-eurocopter-as-532-cougar","tag-famet","tag-nhindustries-nh90","tag-seville","tag-spain","tag-spanish-army"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-02 02:30:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}