Ten helicopters are being bought for the police under the largest agreement of its kind in China, signed on Tuesday, the opening day of the Eighth China International Exhibition on Police Equipment.

On Tuesday this week, the Ministry of Public Security signed an order with local manufacturer AVIC for ten helicopters. The first four, two AC311s and two AC312s (photo below), will be delivered to public security bureaus in Nanjing, Kunming, Hefei and Luoyang.  The 10 helicopters will be made by AVIC subsidiaries Harbin and Changhe.  A statement from the AVIC said 50 helicopters are being used by 28 police aviation units on the Chinese mainland.

Liu Daolin, deputy director of the ministry’s Police Aviation Management Office, is quoted as saying that public security authorities expect to double the size of their helicopter fleets within five years.  At that time they expect to have 50 police helicopter units operating around 100 helicopters.  He added that less than 10% of Chinese mainland cities have air cover, with more local police forces now beginning to understand the value of investing in aircraft.

Yu Feng, president of AVIC Helicopter Co, said separately that police bureaus in cities including Nanjing, Hefei, Tianjin, Jiaozuo, Kunming and Zigong now operate helicopters made by the company.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com