Lee County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office has taken delivery of an Airbus H125 AStar helicopter to increase the Lee County AStar fleet from two to three helicopters, according to Airbus Helicopters.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office performs a wide variety of missions including law enforcement patrol and searches for lost and missing persons. The agency will have a hoist installed on its new H125 in order to perform additional search and rescue missions in the coastal area around Ft. Myers. A California company will perform the law enforcement completion on the Lee County H125.

“The power and performance of the H125 will improve our unit’s capabilities and enable us to perform additional missions as we expand our fleet,” said Michael Warner, Aviation Division commander for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Lee County recently picked up an older AStar after it underwent a 12-year inspection at Airbus Helicopters Inc.’s maintenance and repair facility. The inspection, which includes new enhancements, Federal Aviation Administration mandated upgrades, and a factory paint job resets FAA maintenance cycle times.

More than 225 of Airbus Helicopters’ H125/AS350-series helicopters are in use across the country. The H125 features a Turbomeca Arriel 2D engine, dual hydraulics, dual channel engine FADEC, 30-minute take-off power, and advanced glass-panel cockpit displays.