Asia: A Move to Modernize

The Asia-Pacific region is viewed as the world’s airborne law enforcement market with the largest potential for growth in the next decade — largely because of the prospects envisioned by aircraft and mission equipment managers for that segment in China. Nations in the region, such as China, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as Australia and New Zealand, are rapidly recognizing the need to improve their homeland security capabilities. Many of those nations also are motivated by the need to replace fleets made up of aircraft built in the former Soviet Union (or based on those models) with modern helicopters of greater capability and lower operating costs. Hence, law enforcement and security agencies are acquiring aircraft like Eurocopter’s EC155 (below left, shown operating in Hong Kong). Beijing has set up a police helicopter team to support this year’s Olympics there; its fleet includes AgustaWestland’s AW139 (bottom) and A109. Japan’s Tokyo Metropolitan Police Agency recently ordered a second of the medium twin AW139. The Indonesia National Police is operating a fleet of Enstrom Helicopter’s 480Bs (below right), which it considered well suited to the hot and humid operating environment. The Menominee, Mich. manufacturer, which delivered 18 480Bs to Indonesia, sees law enforcement in and outside the United States as a growth market for it.