Airbus Helicopters SAS is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located at Marseille Provence Airport in Marignane, France, near Marseille. The main facilities of Airbus Helicopters are at its headquarters in Marignane, France, and in Donauwörth, Germany, with additional production plants in Canada, Brazil (Helibras), Australia, Spain, Romania, the United Kingdom and the United States. The company, originally named Eurocopter, was rebranded Airbus Helicopters on 2 January 2014.
Image: Airbus H125 Los Angeles Police Department Air Support (cropped)
Image: Eurocopter 130 SP MTB 3 (modified)
Image: EC 135 RIAT 2011 (6199185182)
Image: Stanford EC145
Helicopter manufacturers belong to the broader category of aerospace manufacturers. It is useful to think of helicopter manufacturers as falling into two categories, those that can design, certify and manufacture new helicopter designs from scratch and those that can only manufacture extant designs under license. Boeing Vertol is an example of the first type and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, who license-produced Boeing Vertol designs for much of its recent history, is an example of the second type.
Final assembly of a Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter in 1964.
Helibras HM-1 Pantera under construction in Brazil.