Kawasaki has announced their eighth EC145 order for use in the fire and disaster prevention role. The order has been placed by Gifu Prefecture in Japan, who will be replacing a BK117B2 when the EC145 is in service. Gifu covers 4,100 square miles and has a population of about 2 million.

All EC145s, including all the US military UH-72 models, start their life with Kawasaki. The Japanese manufacturer makes the core cabin frame. Unless it is one of the few destined for their local production line, the frame is then shipped to Eurocopter’s factory at Donauworth in Germany. US destined frames then have a small amount of work done on them before being shipped again to the US line in Columbus.

Serena Manoro – HeliHub.com Tokyo correspondent