Tunisian air force inks first North African deal to procure dozen Bell 412 helicopters

BEIRUT — On the sidelines of Paris Airshow this week the Tunisian Air Force inked an agreement to procure a dozen SUBARU BELL 412 PXs multi-role helicopters from US-based firm Bell Textron, a first entry for the aircraft in the region.

“The SUBARU Bell 412EPX has been gaining momentum as an international military platform, we’re thrilled to bring it to the Middle East and Africa region with the Tunisian Air Force,” said Tim Evans, Bell Textron Managing Director for Middle East and Africa, in the statement Thursday.

The 412 helicopter is part of the firm’s efforts to militarize “cost-effective” commercial aircraft that the company has previously said could be more tempting to foreign customers. The announcement about Tunisia’s purchase did not include a price tag.

Bell advertises a civilian version of the 412 with a max cruising speed of 228 km/h (142 mph), a range of 669 km and a max endurance of just under four hours.

RELATED: Bell sees an opening in militarizing ‘cost-effective’ commercial helicopters for foreign buyers

Once militarized, the 412 can be equipped with rockets, guns and missiles and is highly modular, the company says. Should the buyer want other capabilities, the company said the transformed helos can also be outfitted with platforms specific to MEDEVAC, ISR or other non-combat missions.

“These platforms [militarized commercial aircraft] are having significant interest around the world,” Douglas Wolfe, managing director of sales and strategy international sales at Bell, told Breaking Defense in 2023.

At the time, Wolfe also said the process of militarizing civil aircraft is also faster for US export approval since it’s not the whole airframe itself that needs approval, but just the weapons systems that would be added to it.

Tunisian Air Force has been slowly trying to boost its capabilities lately, and in 2022 received the first of eight Beechcraft T-6C trainers in 2022 from Textron Aviation.

While Tunisia doesn’t confront vast threats like its neighbor Algeria that has dispute over the Sahara desserts with Morocco, or Libya which has witnessed unrest and civil conflicts since 2011 revolt, Tunisia highlight on its air capabilities mainly to interdict smuggling and possible terrorist attacks from armed factions in neighboring Libya.