Police Aviation News April 2011

Police Aviation News April 2011 15
INDUSTRY
As was predicted at the HAI Heli-Expo event last month [see special edition of PAN covering
the show on this site] MD Helicopters, Inc. (MDHI) has been awarded a contract from
the US Department of the Army for its Rotary Wing Primary Training Aircraft (RWPTA) to be
used in Afghanistan. Despite some reports of this contract making mention of it having a
very high value in excess of $150M the actual contract so far achieved is somewhat more
modest. The initial award calls for six (6) MD 530F Helicopters for training purposes but the
final total could reach as many as fifty four (54) aircraft over the life of the four year contract.
The contract includes all critical spares provisioning.
AgustaWestland has announced that Era Group (Era) has been appointed an
AgustaWestland Authorised Service Centre in Lake Charles (Louisiana, USA) for the range
of AgustaWestland commercial helicopters including the AW119Ke single engine, the
AW109 Power light twin and the AW139 medium twin models.
This latest step further expands the partnership with Era as well as the level of service in
the region and is also part of AgustaWestland’s continuous effort to enhance its global presence
through the provision of total support solutions for its customers. By doing so the company
aims to support its customers at locations close to where they are based and have
their business in order to maximize the operational effectiveness of their helicopters. The
number of AgustaWestland Service Centres worldwide now exceeds 70, providing local
support to customers, whilst a programme is underway to further expand this network of
Service Centres.
Era boasts a large AgustaWestland fleet today including 22 AW119Ke single engine, 7
AW109 Power light twin and 25 AW139 helicopters.
Brother has upgraded its mobile printing range with a new robust, handheld machine which
will support workers on the move.
Designed to support busy emergency services teams, the MW260A enables users to print
up to A6 sized mono documents such as reports, information leaflets or template documents
from a Windows Mobile enabled device* via USB or Bluetooth, rather than having to
wait until they are in the office. The model features an upgraded Bluetooth chip to support
the latest mobile devices.
The printer’s rechargeable lithium battery will provide 50 pages of continuous printing per
charge, supporting users while out in the field. The model produces prints of up to 300dpi
resolution at a speed of 3ppm (pages per minute). It also comes with an AC adaptor and
USB cable. Software development kits (SDKs) for Android and .pdf will be available shortly.
In the UK the printer costs £379 +VAT. To find your nearest supplier, go to http://
www.brother.co.uk/wheretobuy