Croatian tender for civil protection units
In November 2020, the Croatian Ministry of Interior (MoI) announced that it will buy three civilian multi-purpose helicopters to address the lack in transport capacity in civil protection support missions.
Multipurpose modular equipped helicopters will be used by civil protection units, HGSS (Hrvatska gorska služba spašavanja, Mountain Rescue Service) and emergency medical teams for the implementation of civil protection measures, search and rescue on land, transport of light civil protection units (teams with search dogs, surveillance of major accidents or air disasters, medical transport, emergency medical flight and search and rescue at sea). 85% of the budget reserved will be paid by the European Union. No preferred helicopter type was selected or announced yet.
The Ministry of Health will organise a public tender for the establishment of a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS). The deal valued at 18 million euro compromises a three year contract starting on 1 July 2021 to supply around 4,500 flight hours 24 hours per day, seven days a week, from four state-owned bases with accommodation and helicopter hangar: Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek.
The winner of the contract has to provide the helicopters and the flight crews, while the Ministry of Health will provide the medical staff. In case of emergency during day-time the helicopter must be airborne in five minutes, while during the night the maximum is fifteen minutes.
Scrambe Magazine assesses that with the arrival of the new helicopters, the Croatian Air Force will cease their 194. Eskadrila Višenamjenskih Helikoptera (194.EVH) Mi-171Sh detachment at Rijeka airport.
Photo: Toon Cox (Scramble Archive)