(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

The Israel Police helicopters took part in the festive flyover on Israel’s 70th Independence Day

For the first time, three “blue” helicopters joined the IAF aircraft, in which the Israel Police equipped themselves about a year ago as an integral part of fighting crime in all its forms, fighting traffic accidents and maintaining public order. They will also fly three firefighting planes from the Elad Squadron, which is also under the command of the Israel Police.

The choppers are single-engine Airbus-H125 helicopters and have been designed to best fit into crime fighting missions as a complementary force to ground forces in exposure, detection, pursuit, locating traffic offenders, and more.

The combination of helicopters in police work is a multiplier of power in general, and especially after the acquisition of modern helicopters that were specially adapted to police work and installed the most advanced technological systems in the world in the field of air policing.

An additional and important element in the air array is the fire plane 802 aircraft, which will also participate in the flyovers. The Fire Brigade Squadron of the Israel Police is comprised of 14 planes, the purpose of which is to assist firefighting and rescue forces in extinguishing fires. The excellent performance of the squadron was reflected in the wave of fires that hit Israel a year ago and during Operation Cast Lead. The fire squadron was established in 2011 as a lesson from the Carmel disaster, and is called the Elad Squadron, after the late firefighter Elad Riven, who was killed in the disaster A few years ago, the operational responsibility of the squadron was transferred to the Israel Police command.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)