The South African Police Service (SAPS) Air Wing has expanded with another H125 rotorcraft, which were formally handed over by Airbus on Friday 3 October.
The handover ceremony took place at the SAPS Training College in Pretoria and was attended by senior police leadership, including Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia, National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola, Deputy Minister of Police, Shela Boshielo, and Deputy National Commissioner Cassel Mathale.
Nam-Binh Hoang, Managing Director of Airbus in South Africa, noted that the H125/Squirrel has been in SAPS service for a quarter of a century and the type is a major boost to both police ground forces and civilians. He said Airbus was “very proud” to contribute to the strength of the SAPS with the new H125 helicopters.
Cachalia explained that one of the helicopters will be based in Umtata and the other in Gauteng. The SAPS now has a fleet of 19 H125/AS350 Squirrel helicopters. It received two others from Airbus in September 2023, with more expected to be acquired in the future. The H125s join six Robinson R44, eight BK117, and two MD500 aircraft in the police rotary wing fleet.
Cachalia said the acquisitions of the helicopters, as well as 12 Paramount Marshall internal security vehicles also handed over on Friday, were done with Criminal Assets Recovery Account (CARA) funding and are part of an ongoing procurement process, but did not elaborate on what further equipment will be acquired.
At the moment, the police are facing “many challenges,” Cachalia said, with concern about their capabilities. “Today is not a moment for doom and gloom – it’s a good day. It demonstrates over time we can address challenges and equip the police with the resources it needs to address crime.”
“As part of our efforts to advance and intensify our crime fighting efforts, we deemed it necessary to add the two brand new H125 (ZT-REC and ZS-HGA) helicopters as well as the 12 Marshall vehicles you see here today, to our existing fleet,” Masemola said in his address.
“Resources of this kind are crucial in the fight against crime, especially serious and violent crime, hence we deemed it necessary to acquire them. The helicopters and vehicles will definitely be beneficial to our members deployed in specialised units of the SAPS like Special Task Force, Tactical Response Team, National Intervention Unit, Public Order Policing and Visible Policing. This new fleet will play a critical role in responding to organised crime incidents such as crash-in-transit heists, hijackings, armed robberies including many other serious and violent crimes. The helicopters will enable us to respond rapidly to crime scenes and serve the people of South Africa timeously and effectively.”
Segomotso Tire, Executive Manager Business Development and Industry Support at Armscor, explained that the H125 and Marshall acquisitions were done through the state-owned defence materiel agency. Armscor has been offering its services to other state-owned entities in addition to being the SA National Defence Force’s primary acquisition agency.
She said the relationship with the SAPS has been there for a few years now, but there is an intention for the police to use Armscor more regularly. “It is a symbiotic relationship we will continue to nurture.” She added that Armscor can remove the burden of carrying out acquisitions for the SAPS, and has also assisted the Border Management Authority and Department of Correctional Services in acquiring equipment.
