IDEX: Panthers in the pink

Distinctive-looking, with their unusual ‘flat plate’ under-nose radar antennas, the aircraft have finally shed their UAE Navy makings, and now look rather more anonymous, with a simple toned-down JAC badge on their tail fins, above their fenestron tail rotors. 

The AS565 Panther is a twin-engined, medium-sized multi-mission rotorcraft capable of performing a wide range of roles, from search-and-rescue, casualty evacuation and vertical replenishment, to surveillance and special forces operations.

The AS565SB is a specialised sub-variant, tasked primarily with anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare missions.

All UAE Army and Navy helicopters and fixed-wing assets now come under JAC control, with the former Navy AS332B1, AS332M1, AS565MB and AS565SB helicopters being assigned to Group 21 at Sas al Nakhil airbase.