German State Air Services
This is not an air force, and it is not one service either. It is the flying the German state does outside the Bundeswehr: the Bundespolizei-Fliegergruppe at Sankt Augustin with 94 helicopters, eighteen of them the orange civil-protection machines that the Bund owns, and the police helicopter squadrons of thirteen of the sixteen Länder with about fifty more, the Bundespolizei flies and the Länder task. Three Länder have no squadron at all, the customs service has no aircraft whatsoever, and the helicopters most Germans actually see — the yellow ADAC and red DRF air ambulances — belong to private charities doing a public job under contract.
German state aviation: blue police helicopters, eighteen orange air ambulances and a customs service that does not fly
1952–1962: four helicopters the occupying powers would not allow
German state aviation starts with a refusal. In 1952 the federal interior ministry asked the Allied High Commission for four helicopters for the Bundesgrenzschutz, the border force raised the year before, and was told no. Permission came on 4 December 1954; the order for a Hiller UH-12B went out on 27 March 1955; the Hubschrauber-Flugbereitschaft was raised by decree on 7 May 1955 with one pilot, one deputy and two mechanics, one of whom doubled as radio operator and driver; and the first machine landed at Hangelar near Bonn on 24 June 1955. In January 1956 twelve border guards were put through a course to revalidate the flying licences they had earned in the Wehrmacht’s Luftwaffe and convert them to helicopters. The Bundestag approved a twenty-five-helicopter force in 1961 at 8.7 million marks, and because the planners looked at what the Bundeswehr was buying, the aircraft was the Alouette II. Six arrived in February 1962.
The Länder follow, one at a time, and the last of them waits until 1999
The Länder came next, and they came separately, which is why Germany has thirteen police air squadrons instead of one. North Rhine-Westphalia was first: the Staffel "Rheinland" took two Agusta-Bell 47J on 25 June 1962 and began official flying on 1 August. Hamburg decided to form a squadron after the North Sea flood of 16 to 17 February 1962, when Bundesgrenzschutz helicopters were for some hours the only way to take people off roofs. Hesse followed in 1964, Baden-Württemberg on 1 March 1965, Bavaria in 1970, Lower Saxony in 1971 and Rhineland-Palatinate, the last in the west, in April 1974 — a squadron built around the new motorway network, with two Bo 105 still on the production line at Ottobrunn when it was founded. Bremen, the Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein never formed one and still have not; when the Saar police need a helicopter they ring a neighbour, and in February 2023 the machine that came was Hessian.
Orange machines: how the Bund ended up owning eighteen air ambulances
The strangest part of the system is orange. From December 1971 the interior ministry began putting civil-defence helicopters at hospitals: Christoph 3 went into service at Leverkusen-Kurtekotten on 22 December 1971, handed over by Hans-Dietrich Genscher, and by 1980 the Bundesgrenzschutz was running eighteen air rescue stations. The plan was always a civil-protection plan — the aircraft were bought against a war and disaster requirement and lent to the Länder as Ausstattungspotential — but what they did every day was road accidents. The fleet peaked at 22 stations in 1996, lost six, lost four more in 2005 and 2006, and settled at twelve. Today the Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe owns eighteen EC135, the Bundespolizei provides the pilots and the maintenance, the Länder run them inside their own ambulance systems and the health insurers pay for the missions. Three organisations, one helicopter.
1990: the Volkspolizei’s Mil Mi-2s, and five new squadrons built out of them
On 3 October 1990 the Nationale Volksarmee and the Deutsche Volkspolizei were absorbed, and with them the Volkspolizei’s Zentrale Polizeifliegerstaffel. Its Mil Mi-2s were re-registered into the German civil list with the block D-HZPA to D-HZPR — ZP for Zentrale Polizeifliegerstaffel — and shared out among the new eastern Länder: Saxony from 1991, Saxony-Anhalt on 1 January 1992 with three, Thuringia and Brandenburg the same way. Brandenburg also flew two Mil Mi-8T, D-HOZC and D-HOZH, from February 1993 to 1998, the only twenty-seat transport helicopters a German police force has ever had. Saxony-Anhalt’s first crews were Lower Saxon officers sent east to build the unit. Bundesinnenminister Wolfgang Schäuble ordered a Grenzschutzfliegerstaffel Ost raised at Tempelhof on the day of unification itself, and an air rescue network was laid over the new Länder to match the one in the west. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which had no squadron of its own, waited until 1999.
The customs question, and the German answer to it
Anyone arriving from France or Italy looks for the customs air arm and does not find one. The Douane flies King Airs and H160s; the Guardia di Finanza flies ATR maritime patrollers and sixty helicopters; the Bundeszollverwaltung flies nothing. It has eight Zollboote and four Zollkreuzer, and it is one of four federal authorities inside the Koordinierungsverbund Küstenwache, an arrangement that puts a common badge on the boats of the Bundespolizei, the customs service, the waterways administration and the fisheries agency without creating a coastguard. The air component of that coastguard is the Bundespolizei squadron at Fuhlendorf and its Super Pumas. The only aircraft the German state operates over the sea for a civil ministry are two Dornier 228 LM pollution spotters, which belong to the transport ministry and are flown by the navy — the exact inverse of the Italian arrangement, where civil agencies own aircraft that contractors fly.
2024–2026: a two-billion-euro Super Puma order, an H145 sweep through the Länder, and the drones
The present is an equipment cycle and an argument about drones. On 6 June 2024 the interior ministry ordered 38 Airbus H225 with six on option, a 2.05 billion euro programme to replace the 19 EC155 and the 19 AS332 L1 from the end of 2029 to early 2036; it is the largest single purchase in the history of German police aviation. The Länder have been sweeping to one type at the same time: Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Bavaria, Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern all now fly the H145, Hesse and Thuringia signed on 30 March 2026 to buy six more between them, and Berlin has put 15 million euros in its 2027 budget for the first helicopter it will own outright. Meanwhile the newest aircraft in the fleet are not aircraft at all: Hesse counts its drones in double figures, the Bundespolizei trains remote pilots at Fuldatal, Baden-Württemberg has stood up a counter-drone centre, and on 26 February 2026 the Bundestag rewrote the Luftsicherheitsgesetz to let the Bundeswehr help the police shoot them down.
The German State Air Services in numbers
Service
- What this is
- Three layers of flying, no single serviceThe Bundespolizei-Fliegergruppe, a federal police air wing under the interior ministry; thirteen Land police squadrons under thirteen Land interior ministries; and eighteen civil-protection helicopters owned by a federal agency, flown by federal police crews and tasked by the Länder. None of them is part of the Bundeswehr and none of their aircraft is armed for air-to-air or air-to-ground work.
- Founded
- 7 May 1955The decree of the Bundesgrenzschutz-Kommando Mitte that raised the Hubschrauber-Flugbereitschaft. The first helicopter, a Hiller UH-12B, reached Hangelar on 24 June 1955. The oldest Land squadron is North Rhine-Westphalia’s, which began official flying on 1 August 1962; the youngest is Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s, founded in 1999.
- Ministries
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- Bundesministerium des Innern — Bundespolizei-Fliegergruppe and, through the BBK, the eighteen Zivilschutz-Hubschrauber
- Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr — the two Dornier 228 LM pollution spotters, flown for it by the navy
- Bundesministerium der Finanzen — the Bundeszollverwaltung, which operates boats and no aircraft
- Thirteen Land interior ministries — one police air squadron each
Fifteen separate procurement routes and fifteen maintenance organisations, but one training pipeline: every police pilot in Germany, federal or Land, learns to fly at the Luftfahrerschule für den Polizeidienst at Hangelar.
- Heads of service
-
- Dieter Romann, Präsident des Bundespolizeipräsidiums, Potsdam, since 1 August 2012
- Olaf Lindner, Präsident der Bundespolizeidirektion 11, Berlin, the directorate the Fliegergruppe belongs to
- the Leiter der Bundespolizei-Fliegergruppe at Sankt Augustin
- Thomas Strobl, Innenminister Baden-Württemberg; Roman Poseck, Innenminister Hessen; Georg Maier, Innenminister Thüringen — each answerable for his own squadron
Nobody commands German state aviation as a whole, and no body speaks for all of it. The closest thing to a common institution is the Bund-Länder flying school at Hangelar, which thirteen Länder and the Bundespolizei run together.
- Call signs
-
- Pirol — every Bundespolizei helicopter, after the golden oriole
- Christoph — the civil-protection air ambulances, and every other German air ambulance
- Bussard, Edelweiß, Adebar, Libelle, Ibis, Merlin, Phoenix, Hummel, Sperber, Passat, Ikarus, Habicht — the twelve Land squadrons with a name of their own
- Pirol Berlin — the Berlin police helicopter, which borrows the federal call sign because the Bundespolizei flies it with them
Eight of the thirteen Land call signs are birds. Bavaria chose a flower, Hamburg a dragonfly, North Rhine-Westphalia a bumblebee and Saxony a wind.
- What they do not do
- Fight, and fly aeroplanesThere is no combat record on this page. There is also almost no fixed wing: outside the Bundeswehr the German state flies six aeroplanes in total — two Cessna 182S in North Rhine-Westphalia, a King Air 250 and a P68 Observer in Hesse, and the transport ministry’s two Dornier 228 LM. Everything else is a helicopter.
Strength
- Bundespolizei helicopters
- 94The figure in the Bundespolizei annual report and repeated at the wing’s seventieth anniversary on 7 May 2025: 76 police helicopters of five types plus the 18 orange civil-protection EC135. It makes the Bundespolizei the second largest civil aircraft operator in Germany after Lufthansa, and the second largest helicopter operator after the Bundeswehr.
- Land police helicopters
- ~49Six in Baden-Württemberg, eight in Bavaria, one in Berlin, two each in Brandenburg and Hamburg, three in Hesse, three in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, seven in Lower Saxony, six in North Rhine-Westphalia, four in Rhineland-Palatinate of which two are reserve, three in Saxony, two in Saxony-Anhalt and two in Thuringia. Four of those states are mid-way through a type change, so the number moves month to month and no single office publishes it.
- Civil-protection helicopters
- 18 at 12 stationsOwned by the Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe, flown by Bundespolizei pilots, standing at Frankfurt, Cologne, Hanover, Kassel, Duisburg, Siblin, Bielefeld, Traunstein, Kempten, Hamburg, Güstrow and Brandenburg an der Havel. Each averages about 1,500 missions a year.
- Bundespolizei flying personnel
- More than 1,000Including roughly 200 pilots. The wing burns about two million litres of kerosene a year and flew 2,925 hours in its simulators in 2024, 1,150 of them on EC135 devices.
- The H225 programme
- 2.05 billion euros38 firm and 6 optional Airbus H225 ordered by the interior ministry on 6 June 2024 to replace the EC155 and the AS332 L1, with simulators, a winch trainer using virtual reality and a cabin trainer. Deliveries run from the end of 2029 to early 2036. Industry reporting before the award put the programme at over 1.4 billion euros; the official figure is higher.
- Customs aircraft
- NoneThe Bundeszollverwaltung operates eight Zollboote and four Zollkreuzer and no aircraft at all. Where the French Douane and the Italian Guardia di Finanza fly their own maritime patrol fleets, German customs asks the Bundespolizei.
Infrastructure
- Bundespolizei squadrons
-
- Fliegerstaffel Nord, Fuhlendorf — the sea; the largest squadron by personnel
- Fliegerstaffel Ost, Blumberg — VIP flights and airborne radiation measurement
- Fliegerstaffel Mitte, Fuldatal — underslung loads, air rescue assistant training, remote pilots
- Fliegerstaffel Süd, Oberschleißheim — mountain flying and winch work
- Sankt Augustin — GSG 9 procedures, thermal imaging, the flying school and the maintenance shop
- Fliegerstaffel Gifhorn — vegetation fires; made an independent squadron on 13 December 2024
Twelve helicopters are held ready around the clock at seven standing points, with transport helicopters on permanent call for the GSG 9 and for disaster relief.
- Land squadrons
- 13 of 16 LänderBremen, the Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein have none and borrow from their neighbours or from the Bundespolizei. Berlin and Brandenburg share the federal heliport at Blumberg. Only Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia fly aeroplanes, which is why they are called Polizeifliegerstaffel rather than Polizeihubschrauberstaffel.
- Flying school
- Hangelar, since 2009 a Bund-Länder projectThe Luftfahrerschule für den Polizeidienst became a joint undertaking of the Bundespolizei and the thirteen Länder that operate aircraft on 27 August 2009. It has run 45 pilot courses, trained more than 2,000 people and operates five simulators, and it has trained night-vision crews from twelve other European countries for Frontex.
- Air ambulance stations
- about 90, 12 of them federalADAC Luftrettung holds 37 stations and about fifty helicopters, DRF Luftrettung 35 including its Austrian and Liechtenstein subsidiaries, the interior ministry 12, and the Johanniter a handful more. Only the twelve are state aircraft; the rest belong to private non-profit companies doing a public task under Land contracts.
How the German State Air Services is organised
One federal air wing, thirteen state squadrons and no single commander. Three of the sixteen Länder fly nothing, the customs service owns no aircraft at all, and the eighteen orange air ambulances belong to one federal agency, are flown by another and are tasked by the states.
Bundesministerium des Innern
Owns the Bundespolizei and, through the Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe, the eighteen civil-protection helicopters. It placed the H225 order on 6 June 2024 and upgraded Gifhorn to an independent squadron on 13 December 2024.
Bundespolizeipräsidium
The federal police’s top authority, directly under the interior ministry. President since 1 August 2012 is Dieter Romann. About 4,300 staff, some 800 of them at the Potsdam headquarters.
Bundespolizeidirektion 11
The directorate that has held all the Bundespolizei’s special units since 1 August 2017: the GSG 9, the flight service, the overseas protection duties and the sky marshals. President is Olaf Lindner, formerly commander of the GSG 9.
Bundespolizei-Fliegergruppe
The air wing itself, the superior office for the whole federal police flight service, with six flying sites, 94 helicopters, more than 1,000 people and about 200 pilots. Led since 17 September 2019 by Leitender Polizeidirektor Torsten Hallmann.
Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffeln
Fliegerstaffel Nord at Fuhlendorf for the sea, Ost at Blumberg for government transport and radiation measurement, Mitte at Fuldatal for underslung loads and training, Süd at Oberschleißheim for mountain and winch work, and Gifhorn for vegetation fires. Twelve helicopters stand ready around the clock at seven points.
Luftfahrtbetrieb und Instandhaltungsbetrieb der Bundespolizei
The flying operation at Sankt Augustin, formerly the Fliegerstaffel West, and the maintenance shop, formerly the Zentrale Instandhaltungsstaffel. Sankt Augustin is also the competence centre for airborne thermal imaging and for working with the GSG 9.
Luftfahrerschule für den Polizeidienst
A joint Bund-Länder body since 27 August 2009, run by the Bundespolizei with the thirteen Länder that operate aircraft. Forty-five pilot courses, more than 2,000 people trained, five simulators, and night-vision training for crews from twelve other European countries under a Frontex project.
Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe
Owns the eighteen orange EC135 that stand at twelve air rescue centres. The aircraft are federal property lent to the Länder as supplementary equipment; the Bundespolizei flies and maintains them; the Land ambulance services task them.
Havariekommando
The joint federal and coastal-state command at Cuxhaven for maritime emergencies. It tasks the two Dornier 228 LM pollution spotters, and it is the reason the Bundespolizei bought four H215 and equipped the Fuhlendorf squadron with firefighting and casualty-care teams for ships.
Koordinierungsverbund Küstenwache
Not an organisation with aircraft or crews of its own, but a coordinating arrangement founded in 1994 that puts a common badge on the vessels of the Bundespolizei, the customs service, the waterways administration and the fisheries agency. Its air support is the Bundespolizei squadron at Fuhlendorf.
Bundeszollverwaltung
The federal customs administration, under the finance ministry. It operates eight Zollboote and four Zollkreuzer and no aircraft of any kind, which makes it the odd one out among the large European customs services.
Polizeihubschrauber- und Polizeifliegerstaffeln
Baden-Württemberg at Stuttgart and the Baden-Airpark, Bavaria at Munich and Roth, Hamburg at Fuhlsbüttel, Hesse at Egelsbach, Lower Saxony at Hanover and Rastede, North Rhine-Westphalia at Düsseldorf and Dortmund, Rhineland-Palatinate at Koblenz-Winningen. Bremen, the Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein have none.
Polizeihubschrauberstaffeln der neuen Länder
Berlin and Brandenburg at Blumberg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at Rostock-Laage, Saxony at Dresden, Saxony-Anhalt at Magdeburg, Thuringia at Erfurt-Weimar. All except Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were built in 1991 and 1992 out of the Volkspolizei’s Mil Mi-2 fleet.
Wasserschutzpolizei Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the only German state whose police helicopter squadron sits inside the water police rather than the riot police or a central services directorate. Its area is the state and the coastal waters off it.
ADAC Luftrettung gGmbH
A non-profit company wholly owned by the ADAC Stiftung, founded in 1982 to run the helicopters the motoring club had been buying since 1970. About fifty helicopters at 37 stations, and more than 55,000 missions a year. Not a state service, and its aircraft are not state property.
DRF Stiftung Luftrettung gGmbH
The other large operator, the former Deutsche Rettungsflugwacht founded in 1972, which put its first air ambulance into service near Stuttgart on 19 March 1973. Thirty-five stations in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, the foreign ones through its ARA Flugrettung and AP³ subsidiaries, and three ambulance aeroplanes.
Johanniter Luftrettung
The smallest of the three charitable operators. The Johanniter also supply the paramedics at the federal station Christoph 4 in Hanover, where the aircraft belongs to the interior ministry and the pilots come from the Bundespolizei squadron at Gifhorn.
Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger
Germany’s maritime search and rescue organisation, and deliberately not a state body: an old-law association funded by donations, which the transport ministry charged in 1982 with coordinating search and rescue in German waters. It runs 61 boats from 55 stations and the rescue coordination centre MRCC Bremen. It operates no aircraft; the helicopters it calls belong to the Bundespolizei and the Bundeswehr.
Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk
The federal civil protection agency, 80,000 volunteers strong. It flies nothing crewed: its air capability is a Trupp Unbemannte Luftfahrtsysteme, a drone detachment inside the technical platoon, and an agreement with the Bundeswehr under which THW people travel in military transport aircraft on overseas deployments.
Flugbereitschaft des Bundesministeriums der Verteidigung
Germany’s VIP fleet is not a civil service at all: the A350, Global 6000 and H145M that carry the Chancellor and the federal ministers belong to the Luftwaffe and fly from Köln-Wahn and Berlin Brandenburg. It is covered on the German Air Force page, not here. What the Bundespolizei does fly is short-range protected transport of politicians and threatened persons, from Blumberg.
What the German State Air Services flies today
Every type on charge, linked to its Book of Beasts page where one exists. Counts are aircraft on the books, not aircraft available on a given day.
| Type | Role | In service | Since | Units | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus Helicopters H135 / EC135 T2iIn service | Observation and liaison helicopter — Bundespolizei | 24 | 1998 | Bundespolizei-Fliegergruppe, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Nord, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Ost, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Mitte, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Süd, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Gifhorn | 24 police-coloured aircraft in the 2022 and 2025 counts, out of 26 EC135 bought between 1998 and 2000.
MoreA further 18 in civil-protection orange are carried separately, which is why Airbus describes the Bundespolizei as operating "more than 40" H135-family machines. |
|
| Airbus Helicopters EC135 T2i (Zivilschutz-Hubschrauber)In service | Civil-protection air ambulance — federal property, Bundespolizei crews | 18 | 2008 | Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Mitte, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Nord, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Süd, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Gifhorn | 18 aircraft for 12 stations, so that each station keeps a machine flying while another is in maintenance.
MoreThe type has equipped all twelve stations since 2008 and two stations were re-equipped with the later H135 in 2018 and 2019. |
|
| Airbus Helicopters H155 / EC155 B and B1In service | Light transport and special-forces support helicopter — Bundespolizei | 19 | 1999 | Luftfahrtbetrieb der Bundespolizei, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Nord, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Ost | 19 on charge in 2022 and averaging about 25 years old, from 20 bought from 1999 — 13 at first and 7 later — to replace the Bell UH-1D. To be replaced by the H225 from the end of 2029. | |
| Aérospatiale AS332 L1 Super PumaIn service | Medium transport helicopter — Bundespolizei | 19 | 1987 | Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Nord, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Ost, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Mitte, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Süd, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Gifhorn | 19 on charge in 2022, averaging about 30 years old.
MoreThree new AS332 L1 were delivered in 1987 and 1988, which took the transport fleet of the day to 46 aircraft; no official statement of the full delivery history has been published, so the total ever bought is not established here. |
|
| Airbus Helicopters H215In service | Maritime medium transport helicopter — Bundespolizei | 4 | 2018 | Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Nord | 4. Three were contracted through the procurement office on 8 December 2016 and delivered by December 2018, the fourth followed in mid-2019, and all four entered service in 2020. | |
| Airbus Helicopters H120 / EC120 B ColibriIn service | Basic training helicopter — Bundespolizei and the Länder | 10 | Luftfahrerschule für den Polizeidienst | 10 in the 2022 and 2025 counts.
MoreThe year the type entered service with the Bundesgrenzschutz is not stated in any official source consulted here; aircraft such as D-HSHC were flying school sorties from Hangelar by 2019. |
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| Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (Baden-Württemberg)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Baden-Württemberg | 6 | 2015 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Baden-Württemberg | 6, D-HBWU to D-HBWZ, delivered 2015 and 2016. Two are permanently at Stuttgart and two at the Baden-Airpark. | |
| Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (Bayern)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Bayern | 8 | 2023 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Bayern | 8, D-HBPA to D-HBPH, ordered on 3 December 2021 and delivered between 2023 and 2026. They replaced eight EC135 P2+ later brought to P3 standard, retired in 2025 and 2026. | |
| Eurocopter EC135 T2 (Berlin)In service | Police helicopter — Polizei Berlin, jointly with the Bundespolizei | 1 | 2004 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Berlin, Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Ost | 1, operated jointly with the Bundespolizei Fliegerstaffel Ost at Blumberg since 2004.
MoreBerlin has never owned a police helicopter outright; 15 million euros for one of its own stands in the draft 2027 state budget. |
|
| Eurocopter EC135 P2 (Brandenburg)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Brandenburg | 2 | 2003 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Brandenburg | 2, D-HBBY and D-HBBZ, handed over on 5 May 2003 for about 13 million euros together.
MoreReplacement was budgeted for 2023 and 2024 and then fell through in an argument about how big the successor should be. |
|
| Eurocopter EC135 P2 (Hamburg)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Hamburg | 2 | 2004 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Hamburg | 2, D-HONE and D-HTWO, built in 2004. The registrations spell one and two. | |
| Eurocopter EC145 (BK 117 C-2) (Hessen)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeifliegerstaffel Hessen | 3 | 2002 | Polizeifliegerstaffel Hessen | 3, D-HHEA of 2002, D-HHEB of 2005 and D-HHEC of 2006. All three are due to be replaced from 2029 under the agreement signed with Thuringia on 30 March 2026. | |
| Beechcraft King Air 250In service | Police surveillance and transport aeroplane — Polizeifliegerstaffel Hessen | 1 | 2020 | Polizeifliegerstaffel Hessen | 1, D-CHEB, built 2020. | |
| Vulcanair P68 Observer 2In service | Police observation aeroplane — Polizeifliegerstaffel Hessen | 1 | 2011 | Polizeifliegerstaffel Hessen | 1, D-GHEA, built 2011. | |
| Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 1 | 2026 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 1 of 2 delivered. D-HMVD went into service at Laage on 31 August 2026; the second is outstanding. Both come from the joint order with Lower Saxony awarded to Airbus in August 2023. | |
| Eurocopter EC135 P1 and P2 (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 2 | 1999 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 2 still flying, D-HMVA of 1999 and D-HMVP of 1997, both brought to P2 standard in 2004. A third, D-HMVB, was destroyed in 1999. | |
| Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (Niedersachsen)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Niedersachsen | 2 | 2026 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Niedersachsen | 2, D-HPNG and D-HPNM, in service from 2026.
MoreThey are Lower Saxony’s half of the four-aircraft order placed jointly with Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which cost about 40 million euros for all four and saved the two states roughly a fifth against buying separately. |
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| Eurocopter EC135 P2+ (Niedersachsen)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Niedersachsen | 3 | 2015 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Niedersachsen | 3: D-HPNE and D-HPNF of 2015, plus D-HBPG taken over from the Bavarian police in 2025. | |
| MD Helicopters MD 902 ExplorerIn service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Niedersachsen | 2 | 1999 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Niedersachsen | 2 still flying, D-HPNA of 1999 and D-HPNC of 2000, from four bought. D-HPNB was written off at Hanover in November 2007 and D-HPND near Elze in the Wedemark in January 2010. | |
| Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (Nordrhein-Westfalen)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeifliegerstaffel Nordrhein-Westfalen | 6 | 2016 | Polizeifliegerstaffel Nordrhein-Westfalen | 6, D-HNWR to D-HNWW, delivered in 2016 and 2017 and since retrofitted with the five-bladed rotor. | |
| Cessna 182S SkylaneIn service | Police observation aeroplane — Polizeifliegerstaffel Nordrhein-Westfalen | 2 | 2006 | Polizeifliegerstaffel Nordrhein-Westfalen | 2, D-EBKI and D-EMLI, both of 2006. | |
| Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (Rheinland-Pfalz)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Rheinland-Pfalz | 2 | 2024 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Rheinland-Pfalz | 2, D-HRPC and D-HRPD, built 2024 and presented at Mainz in August 2024. | |
| Eurocopter EC135 P2 and P2i (Rheinland-Pfalz)In service | Reserve police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Rheinland-Pfalz | 2 | 2002 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Rheinland-Pfalz | 2 held in reserve, D-HRPA of 2002 and D-HRPB of 2004, since the H145s arrived in 2024. | |
| Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (Sachsen)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Sachsen | 3 | 2024 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Sachsen | 3: D-HSNF of 2024, D-HSNG in service from 2026 and D-HSNH of 2026.
MoreThe squadron’s EC135 T3 and T2i were retired during 2026, so an official page describing one H145 and two EC135 in April 2026 was already out of date by the summer. |
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| Airbus Helicopters H145 D2 (Sachsen-Anhalt)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Sachsen-Anhalt | 2 | 2017 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Sachsen-Anhalt | 2, D-HSAA delivered 2017 and D-HSAB in 2020. Saxony-Anhalt is the only German police force still on the four-bladed D2 rather than the five-bladed D3. | |
| Eurocopter EC145 (BK 117 C-2) (Thüringen)In service | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Thüringen | 2 | 2008 | Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Thüringen | 2, D-HTHC built 2007 and in service 2008, and D-HTHD built 2010 and bought second-hand in 2019. They are among the oldest police helicopters in Germany and are to be replaced from 2029. | |
| Dornier 228 LMIn service | Maritime pollution surveillance aeroplane — transport ministry, flown by the navy | 2 | 1991 | Ölüberwachungsflugzeuge Dornier 228 LM | 2. One was delivered to Marinefliegergeschwader 5 at Kiel in 1991 and the second to MFG 3 at Nordholz in 1997; both were modernised from 2020. |
On order
| Type | Ordered | First delivery | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus Helicopters H225On order | 38 | 2029 | 38 firm and 6 on option, ordered by the Bundesministerium des Innern on 6 June 2024 in a programme the Bundespolizei puts at 2.05 billion euros including simulators, a virtual-reality winch trainer and a cabin trainer.
MoreThey replace the 19 EC155 and the 19 AS332 L1, which by 2024 averaged about 25 and about 30 years old. Deliveries run from the end of 2029 to early 2036. It is the largest purchase in the history of German police aviation, and it keeps the Bundespolizei on the Super Puma family it has flown since the 1980s. |
|
| Airbus Helicopters H145 D3 (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)On order | 1 | 2026 | The second of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s two aircraft from the joint order with Lower Saxony. The first, D-HMVD, went into service at Laage on 31 August 2026.
MoreAll four aircraft in the joint buy cost about 40 million euros, roughly a fifth less than the two states would have paid separately at list prices. |
|
| Four-tonne-class BOS helicopter (Hessen and Thüringen)On order | 6 | 2029 | Six identical machines, four for Hesse and two for Thuringia, under a cooperation agreement signed at Egelsbach on 30 March 2026 by the interior ministers Roman Poseck and Georg Maier.
MoreThe Europe-wide tender was to start during 2026, deliveries from 2029 and full operation by about 2030, at a cost in the low hundreds of millions of euros. The type has not been chosen; the replaced aircraft are EC145 built between 2002 and 2010. The new machines are to carry better thermal imaging, digital integration and improved winch rescue. |
|
| Police helicopter for BerlinOn order | 1 | 15 million euros stand in the draft Berlin state budget for 2027 to buy the city its first police helicopter of its own.
MoreThe commitment comes from the CDU and SPD coalition agreement of 2023. Until it arrives, Berlin flies one EC135 T2 jointly with the Bundespolizei from Blumberg. The type has not been announced. |
||
| Replacement for the Brandenburg EC135 P2On order | — | Not ordered.
MoreReplacement of Brandenburg’s two 2003-built EC135 was in the 2023 and 2024 double budget and fell through in a dispute about how large the successor should be; in early 2025 the police union publicly asked the state government to buy H145s instead. Nothing has been contracted. |
Every type the German State Air Services has retired
17 types, from the Hiller UH-12B to the Eurocopter EC135 P2+ and P3 (Bayern). Peak figures are airframes taken on charge over the whole service life, not fleet strength on any one date.
| Type | Role | Peak | Served | Replaced by | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurocopter EC135 P2+ and P3 (Bayern) | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Bayern | 8 | 1999–2026 | Airbus H145 D3 | 8, D-HBPA to D-HBPH, all built 2009 and 2010 and retired in 2025 and 2026 as the H145 arrived. Nine earlier EC135 P1 and P2, D-HBYA to D-HBYI, had served from 1999 to 2010. | |
| MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 B2 and C1 | Police helicopter — North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and others | — | 1990–2020 | Airbus H145 | North Rhine-Westphalia flew two B2 from 1990 and three C1 from 2004, all retired in 2017; Saxony-Anhalt flew two B2 from 1991 and 1992, retired in 2019 and 2020; Baden-Württemberg flew two from 1993 to 2001. | |
| Eurocopter EC155 B (Nordrhein-Westfalen) | Police helicopter — Polizeifliegerstaffel Nordrhein-Westfalen | 2 | 2003–2017 | Airbus H145 D3 | 2, D-HNWM and D-HNWN, delivered 2003 and retired in 2017, afterwards held in reserve. | |
| MD Helicopters MD 900 and MD 902 Explorer (Baden-Württemberg) | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Baden-Württemberg | 6 | 2003–2016 | Airbus H145 D3 | 6, D-HBWC to D-HBWG and D-HIBC, in service from 2003 and retired in 2016. D-HBWG was destroyed at Engelsbrand near Pforzheim on 10 May 2011. | |
| Aérospatiale SA 365 C Dauphin II | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Niedersachsen | 2 | 1979–2016 | — | 2, D-HOPE of 1979 and D-HOPQ of 1981, both retired in 2016. | |
| PZL-Świdnik W-3A Sokół | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Sachsen | 2 | 1994–2010 | Eurocopter EC135 | 2, D-HSNA from 1994 and D-HSNB from 1997. D-HSNB was destroyed near Thalheim on 17 January 2005 and D-HSNA was retired in 2010. | |
| MBB Bo 105 | Liaison, police and civil-protection helicopter — Bundesgrenzschutz, the Bund and most Land forces | — | 1971–2007 | Eurocopter EC135 | Five of the first Bo 105A went to the Bundesgrenzschutz in 1971 and were later brought to Bo 105C standard; 22 of the Bund’s 24 civil-protection helicopters were Bo 105, flown and maintained by Bundesgrenzschutz personnel.
MoreMost Land squadrons flew the type as well, and the airframes were stretched to CBS-5 standard in the mid-1990s. |
|
| Mil Mi-2 | Police helicopter — Volkspolizei, then Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia | — | 1990–2003 | EC135, BK 117, W-3A Sokół | The survivors of the Volkspolizei’s Zentrale Polizeifliegerstaffel, re-registered into the block D-HZPA to D-HZPR from 1990 and shared out among the new eastern Länder.
MoreSaxony took three in 1991 and 1992, Saxony-Anhalt three in 1992, Thuringia two, Brandenburg several. The last, Brandenburg’s D-HZPL, flew until 2003. |
|
| Aérospatiale SA 341 and SA 342 J Gazelle | Police helicopter — Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Niedersachsen | 4 | 1973–2001 | — | 4, D-HOPL of 1973 and D-HOPN, D-HOPO and D-HOPP of 1977 and 1979, all retired between 2000 and 2001. | |
| Mil Mi-8T | Transport helicopter — Polizei Brandenburg | 2 | 1993–1998 | — | 2, D-HOZC and D-HOZH, available to the squadron from February 1993 and retired in 1998. | |
| Aérospatiale SA 319 B Alouette III | Police helicopter — North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony | — | 1970–1995 | — | Lower Saxony flew D-HOPM from 1973 to 1995; North Rhine-Westphalia flew several, one of which, D-HAMS, crashed beside the A1 near the Kamener Kreuz on 4 June 1978. | |
| Sud-Aviation SE 3130 / SA 318C Alouette II | Observation and border patrol helicopter — Bundesgrenzschutz and Land police | — | 1962–1979 | Bo 105 | Six delivered to the Bundesgrenzschutz in February 1962 at 320,000 marks each, within a Bundestag authorisation of 25 helicopters and 8.7 million marks, and ten more taken over from the Bundeswehr in March 1977 and converted to police standard.
MoreSeveral Länder flew them too. |
|
| Agusta-Bell 47G-2 and 47J | Observation helicopter — Bundesgrenzschutz and the first Land squadrons | — | 1957–1970 | Alouette II | The Bundesgrenzschutz re-equipped on the 47G-2 at the end of May 1957.
MoreNorth Rhine-Westphalia put two Agusta-Bell 47J into service on 25 June 1962 and Hamburg chartered a Bell 47G with a civilian pilot in 1961 before buying two 47J of its own in 1962. |
|
| Hiller UH-12B | First helicopter of the Bundesgrenzschutz | 1 | 1955–1957 | Bell 47G-2 | The order went out from the interior ministry on 27 March 1955 and the aircraft reached Hangelar on 24 June 1955. The number bought is not stated in the sources consulted. | |
| Bell UH-1D Iroquois | Light transport helicopter — Bundesgrenzschutz | 16 | 1968– | Eurocopter EC155 | 16 acquired between 15 July 1968 and 1971, replaced from 1999 by the EC155. | |
| Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma | Medium transport helicopter — Bundesgrenzschutz | 22 | 1973– | AS332 L1 Super Puma | The first was taken on 21 December 1973 and 22 were in service by mid-1979. | |
| Bell 212 | Special forces transport helicopter — Bundesgrenzschutz, for the GSG 9 | 3 | 1973– | Eurocopter EC155 | 3, put into service on 6 August 1973 for the newly raised GSG 9. |
Where German state aviation flies from
Almost none of these units owns an airfield. They are tenants — on international airports at Munich, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Hanover and Dresden, on a Bundeswehr barracks at Roth, on a naval air station at Nordholz — and at Blumberg a federal squadron, a state squadron and a city squadron share one heliport.
| Base | ICAO | Status | Runway | Units and aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baden-AirparkBaden-Württemberg | EDSB | Active | 03/212,983 m |
|
| BlumbergBrandenburg | EDOY | Active | — |
|
| DortmundNordrhein-Westfalen | EDLW | Active | 06/242,000 m |
|
| DresdenSachsen | EDDC | Active | 04/222,850 mconcrete |
|
| DüsseldorfNordrhein-Westfalen | EDDL | Active | 05R/23L3,000 mconcrete05L/23R2,700 mconcrete |
|
| EgelsbachHessen | EDFE | Active | 08/261,400 m08R/26L670 mgrass |
|
| ErfurtThüringen | EDDE | Active | 09/272,600 m |
|
| FuhlendorfSchleswig-Holstein | EDHX | Active | — |
|
| FuldatalHessen | EDVZ | Active | — |
|
| GifhornNiedersachsen | EDVX | Active | — |
|
| HamburgHamburg | EDDH | Active | 15/333,666 m05/233,250 m |
|
| HanoverNiedersachsen | EDDV | Active | 09L/27R3,790 mconcrete09R/27L2,340 mconcrete |
|
| Koblenz-WinningenRheinland-Pfalz | EDRK | Active | 06/241,175 m |
|
| MagdeburgSachsen-Anhalt | EDBM | Active | 09/271,000 m09L/27R700 mgrass |
|
| MunichBayern | EDDM | Active | 08L/26R4,000 mconcrete08R/26L4,000 mconcrete |
|
| NordholzNiedersachsen | ETMN | Active | 08/262,440 mconcrete |
|
| OberschleißheimBayern | EDNX | Active | 07/25808 m |
|
| RastedeNiedersachsen | Active | — |
|
|
| Rostock-LaageMecklenburg-Vorpommern | ETNL | Active | 09/272,500 mconcrete |
|
| RothBayern | ETHR | Active | 09/27535 m |
|
| Sankt AugustinNordrhein-Westfalen | EDKB | Active | 11/29800 mconcrete |
|
| StuttgartBaden-Württemberg | EDDS | Active | 07/253,345 mconcrete |
|
No air base matches that search.
Who is stationed where in the German State Air Services
Flying units by site, with the force each belongs to. The Bundespolizei calls them Fliegerstaffeln, most Länder call them Polizeihubschrauberstaffeln, and Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia call them Polizeifliegerstaffeln because they are the only two that also fly aeroplanes.
- Bundespolizei-FliegergruppePirol · Air wing headquarters · active
- Airbus H135, Airbus H155, AS332 L1 Super Puma, Airbus H215, Airbus H120 Colibri
- Luftfahrtbetrieb der BundespolizeiFlying operation · active
- Airbus H155, AS332 L1 Super Puma
- Instandhaltungsbetrieb der BundespolizeiZIST · Central maintenance organisation · active
- —
- Luftfahrerschule für den PolizeidienstLFS · Flying school · active
- Airbus H120 Colibri, Airbus H135
- Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel NordPirol · Police flying squadron · active
- Airbus H215, AS332 L1 Super Puma, Airbus H155, Airbus H135
- Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel OstPirol · Police flying squadron · active
- Airbus H135, Airbus H155, AS332 L1 Super Puma
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel BrandenburgAdebar · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Eurocopter EC135 P2
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel BerlinPirol Berlin · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Eurocopter EC135 T2
- Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel MittePirol · Police flying squadron · active
- AS332 L1 Super Puma, Airbus H155, Airbus H135
- Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel SüdPirol · Police flying squadron · active
- Airbus H135, Airbus H155, AS332 L1 Super Puma
- Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel GifhornPirol · Police flying squadron · active
- AS332 L1 Super Puma, Airbus H135, Eurocopter EC135 T2i
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Baden-WürttembergBussard · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Airbus H145 D3
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Baden-Württemberg, SöllingenBussard · Land police helicopter detachment · active
- Airbus H145 D3
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel BayernEdelweiß · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Airbus H145 D3
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Bayern, Außenstelle RothEdelweiß · Land police helicopter detachment · active
- Airbus H145 D3
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel HamburgLibelle · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Eurocopter EC135 P2
- Polizeifliegerstaffel HessenIbis · Land police flying squadron · active
- Eurocopter EC145, Beechcraft King Air 250, Vulcanair P68 Observer 2
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Mecklenburg-VorpommernMerlin · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Airbus H145 D3, Eurocopter EC135 P2
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel NiedersachsenPhoenix · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Airbus H145 D3, Eurocopter EC135 P2+, MD 902 Explorer
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Niedersachsen, RastedePhoenix · Land police helicopter detachment · active
- Eurocopter EC135 P2+, MD 902 Explorer
- Polizeifliegerstaffel Nordrhein-WestfalenHummel · Land police flying squadron · active
- Airbus H145 D3, Cessna 182S Skylane
- Polizeifliegerstaffel Nordrhein-Westfalen, DortmundHummel · Land police flying detachment · active
- Airbus H145 D3
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Rheinland-PfalzSperber · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Airbus H145 D3, Eurocopter EC135 P2i
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel SachsenPassat · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Airbus H145 D3
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Sachsen-AnhaltIkarus · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Airbus H145 D2
- Polizeihubschrauberstaffel ThüringenHabicht · Land police helicopter squadron · active
- Eurocopter EC145
- Ölüberwachungsflugzeuge Dornier 228 LMÖlaufklärer · Maritime pollution surveillance flight · active
- Dornier 228 LM
No unit matches that search.
German State Air Services milestones, 1914 to today
The federal interior minister asks the Allied High Commission for four helicopters for the Bundesgrenzschutz. The request is refused. Two border guards are sent abroad to train as helicopter pilots anyway.
4 December: permission is granted at last.
27 March: the order goes out for a Hiller UH-12B. 7 May: a decree of the BGS-Kommando Mitte raises the Hubschrauber-Flugbereitschaft — one pilot, a deputy and two mechanics. 24 June: the first helicopter lands at Hangelar.
January: twelve border guards revalidate the flying licences they earned in the Wehrmacht’s Luftwaffe and convert to helicopters on machines lent by a civil flying school.
February: six Alouette II arrive under a Bundestag authorisation of 25 helicopters and 8.7 million marks. 16–17 February: the Hamburg storm surge, where BGS helicopters are for a time the only way off the roofs, and Hamburg decides to raise a squadron of its own. 25 June: North Rhine-Westphalia puts two Agusta-Bell 47J into service and becomes the first Land police force to fly. 22 September and 1 November: the BGS flying units are renamed Grenzschutz-Flugstaffeln and a southern one is raised at Rosenheim.
1 October and 1 November: Grenzschutz-Flugstaffel Küste is raised at Hartenholm and Grenzschutz-Flugstaffel Mitte at Fuldatal-Ihringshausen. Running costs have gone from 50,000 marks in 1955 to 1.4 million.
14 August: the interior minister orders a Fliegerstaffel staff raised, with a command group, a training squadron and a central workshop. Hesse and Hamburg form their squadrons the same year.
1 March: Baden-Württemberg raises its squadron with six officers.
15 July: the first of sixteen Bell UH-1D is delivered; the last arrives in 1971.
Five Bo 105A go to the BGS, among the first built. 22 December: the interior ministry puts the first federal air ambulance, a Bo 105 registered D-HDOC, into service at Leverkusen-Kurtekotten; Hans-Dietrich Genscher hands it over. Lower Saxony forms its squadron.
More than thirty BGS helicopters fly over 350 sorties at the Munich Olympics. On 6 September a grenade thrown during the failed rescue at Fürstenfeldbruck destroys a BGS UH-1D and hostages die.
6 August: three Bell 212 enter service for the newly raised GSG 9. 21 December: the first SA 330 Puma is taken over; 22 follow by mid-1979.
April: Rhineland-Palatinate forms the last West German Land squadron, at Worms. July: a Baden-Württemberg Alouette II crashes over Mannheim, killing three officers.
By this year the BGS runs eighteen air rescue stations. November: a BGS Puma carries Pope John Paul II around Germany. The Bo 105 rescue helicopters turn from yellow to the orange they still wear.
26–28 February: about thirty BGS and Lower Saxon helicopters work the Brokdorf demonstrations. From 1982 Pumas are the only way of moving police units around the Startbahn 18 West site at Frankfurt.
3 October: Wolfgang Schäuble orders a Grenzschutzfliegerstaffel Ost raised at Tempelhof and an air rescue network laid over the new Länder. The Volkspolizei’s Zentrale Polizeifliegerstaffel is broken up and its Mil Mi-2 re-registered D-HZPA onwards.
1 January: Saxony-Anhalt forms its squadron with three Mi-2 and crews lent from Lower Saxony. Brandenburg forms its own the same year; Saxony and Thuringia had begun in 1991.
The federal civil-protection fleet peaks at 22 air rescue stations. 6 August: a Hamburg Bo 105 crashes into the Bay of Lübeck during an exercise and all five aboard are killed.
1 January: the flight service is restructured; a new Fliegerstaffel West is raised at Sankt Augustin along with the central maintenance squadron and the flying school. Twenty-six EC135 and, from 1999, twenty EC155 are bought.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern forms the last German Land squadron, at Rostock-Laage. On 24 November one of its two new EC135 hits trees near Basepohl and three of the four aboard die.
1 July: the Bundesgrenzschutz is renamed Bundespolizei. 22 May: the flight service marks fifty years at Hangelar with all seven types then in use in the air. From this year the fleets go blue, a change finished at the end of 2012 in every force except Bavaria’s.
Summer: Bundespolizei helicopters fly for Frontex for the first time, from Lampedusa. The federal air rescue network settles at twelve stations after two rounds of cuts.
27 August: the flying school at Hangelar becomes the Luftfahrerschule für den Polizeidienst, a joint Bund-Länder body with the thirteen states that operate aircraft.
8 December: a contract is signed for three new Super Puma, delivered as H215 by the end of 2018. 25 February: an EC135 crashes at Bimöhlen on a night-vision flight, killing two.
1 August: the Bundespolizei’s special units are brought together in Bundespolizeidirektion 11, and the flight service goes with them.
14–17 July: the Ahr valley flood, with up to five Bundespolizei helicopters and 750 federal police committed at once, and no winch-equipped police helicopter at all in the worst-hit state. September: an EC135 flies aerial gamma measurements over Chernobyl.
6 June: 38 H225 are ordered with six on option, a 2.05 billion euro programme. 13 December: Gifhorn becomes an independent squadron with about 90 million euros of investment.
7 May: seventy years of the Bundespolizei-Fliegergruppe, with 94 helicopters at six sites. Bavaria finishes converting to the H145 and sells a retired EC135 to Lower Saxony.
26 February: the Bundestag rewrites the Luftsicherheitsgesetz for drone defence. 30 March: Hesse and Thuringia agree to buy six helicopters together. 31 August: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern takes its first H145. Berlin puts 15 million euros in the 2027 budget for a helicopter of its own.
Everything people ask about the German State Air Services
Is German state aviation an air force?
How many helicopters does the Bundespolizei have?
Does the German customs service have aircraft?
Which German states have their own police helicopters?
Who owns the orange rescue helicopters with Christoph call signs?
Are the ADAC and DRF rescue helicopters state aircraft?
Who flies the German government’s VIP aircraft?
What is the largest order in German police aviation?
What happened to the East German police helicopters?
Why do German police helicopters have bird names?
Does the German state fly any aeroplanes for police work?
Who watches the North Sea and the Baltic for oil spills?
Does the THW fly?
Does the DGzRS have helicopters?
Which is the oldest German police air unit?
Which German state police helicopters are the oldest?
Where do German police pilots learn to fly?
What is the most dangerous thing these crews do?
Read the aircraft the German State Air Services flew
Every type with a page in the Book of Beasts, in service first, then by the year it left the fleet.
Every fact, checked
- Bundespolizeidirektion 11: 70 Jahre im Dienst der Sicherheit — Feierstunde der Bundespolizei-Fliegergruppeofficial, 7 May 2025: 94 helicopters at six sites — Sankt Augustin, Oberschleißheim, Fuldatal, Blumberg, Fuhlendorf and Gifhorn; founding decree of 7 May 1955; the service described as Germany’s second largest civil aircraft operator after Lufthansa; the 1962 Hamburg flood, 2002 Elbe flood with 2,060 rescued, the 2008 Egypt deployment and the 4,830 km return flight, the 2021 Ahr and Erft floods
- Bundespolizei kompakt 02|2025: "Unterstützung aus der Luft — 70 Jahre Bundespolizei-Flugdienst"official staff magazine, 11 February 2025: 94 helicopters of which 76 police in five types and 18 civil-protection EC135 at 12 stations; more than 1,000 staff and about 200 pilots; about two million litres of kerosene a year; 2,925 simulator hours in 2024, 1,150 of them on EC135 devices; the H225 programme at 2.05 billion euros with deliveries from end 2029 to early 2036; the flying school at its 45th course with over 2,000 trained and five simulators
- Airbus: German Ministry of Interior orders up to 44 H225 helicopters for its Federal Policemanufacturer, 6 June 2024: 38 firm plus 6 options; replaces the H155 and AS332 in service more than 20 years; deliveries from 2029; training means and spares included; the Bundespolizei described as operating 94 Airbus helicopters including more than 40 of the H135 family
- hartpunkt: Großauftrag für Bundespolizei-Hubschrauber geht offenbar an Airbustrade press, 24 May 2024: the 2022 fleet breakdown of 76 police helicopters — 10 EC120 B trainers, 24 EC135 T2i, 19 EC155 B/B1, 19 AS332 L1 and 4 H215 Maritim delivered in 2019; the EC155 averaging about 25 years and the AS332 about 30; an industry estimate of over 1.4 billion euros before the award
- Aerobuzz: Bundespolizei übernimmt weitere Super Pumatrade press: three H215 delivered by December 2018 and a fourth in mid-2019, all four in service in 2020, all four intended for maritime work with the Havariekommando
- Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe: Zivilschutz-Hubschrauberofficial: 18 helicopters at 12 air rescue centres; EC135 T2i at all twelve stations since 2008 with two re-equipped with the H135 in 2018 and 2019; pilots from the Bundespolizei-Fliegergruppe; about 1,500 missions a year per aircraft; the twelve stations named
- Bundesministerium des Innern: Fliegerstaffel Gifhorn der Bundespolizei wird eigenständiger Standortofficial, 13 December 2024: Gifhorn upgraded from an outstation of Fuhlendorf to an independent squadron, about 90 million euros of investment, staff and transport helicopters to be added step by step
- Staatsministerium Baden-Württemberg: Jahresbilanz 2025 der Polizeihubschrauberstaffelofficial, 15 February 2026: 2,097 missions and 2,047 flying hours in 2025 against 2,253 and 2,241 in 2024; 46 per cent of hours at night; six H145 with two each at Stuttgart and the Baden-Airpark; the November 2025 mast rescue; four million euros for the D-KAZ BW drone centre; Innenminister Thomas Strobl
- Berliner Zeitung: Landeshaushalt — Senat veranschlagt 15 Millionen Euro für Polizei-Hubschrauberpress: Berlin currently shares one EC135 T2 named Pirol Berlin with the Bundespolizei at Blumberg; 451 missions in 2024 against 391 in 2023; 15 million euros in the 2027 state budget for a helicopter of Berlin’s own, agreed in the 2023 CDU and SPD coalition agreement
- Hessisches Ministerium des Innern: Hessen und Thüringen beschaffen neue Polizeihubschrauberofficial, 30 March 2026: six four-tonne-class helicopters, four for Hesse and two for Thuringia; agreement signed at Egelsbach by Roman Poseck and Georg Maier; Europe-wide tender from 2026, delivery from 2029, full operation about 2030; cost in the low hundreds of millions; the aircraft replaced are EC145 of 2002 to 2010
- Ministerium für Inneres, Bau und Digitalisierung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Airbus wird vier neue Hubschrauber für die Polizei M-V und Niedersachsen bauenofficial, 25 August 2023: four H145, two per state, for about 40 million euros in total, roughly 20 per cent less than separate purchases at list prices; contract to Airbus Helicopters Deutschland; deliveries from 2025 with the Mecklenburg aircraft due by end 2025 and autumn 2026; ministers Christian Pegel and Daniela Behrens
- Bundeswehr: Ausrüstung und Technik — Der Ölaufklärer DO 228 LMofficial, April 2025: two aircraft operated by Marinefliegergeschwader 3 at Nordholz, flying without weapons and without a military mandate, monitoring the North Sea and the Baltic with radar, infrared and ultraviolet sensors, laser fluorescence and video, ready 365 days a year and reporting to the Havariekommando in Cuxhaven
- Havariekommando: Positive Bilanz der Ölüberwachungofficial, 20 February 2025: 407 surveillance sorties in 2024; 43 pollutions found in German waters, 33 in the North Sea and 10 in the Baltic, plus 58 in international waters; all German finds under 0.1 cubic metres; one detection every 11 flying hours against every 4 before the sensor refit
- Deutscher Bundestag: Luftsicherheitsgesetz für eine bessere Abwehr von Drohnen geändertofficial, 26 February 2026: the amendment passed with CDU/CSU, AfD and SPD votes against Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and Die Linke; the Bundeswehr may support the Land police in drone defence and shoot down drones to prevent a particularly serious accident; the requirement for prior agreement between the defence and interior ministers removed; a new offence of unauthorised entry to airport security areas carrying up to five years
- classic-aviation-team.de: Flugdienst der Bundespolizeienthusiast report, 2021: the four squadron names and sites — Nord at Fuhlendorf, Ost at Blumberg, Süd at Oberschleißheim, Mitte at Fuldatal — with the headquarters at Bonn-Hangelar; the H120 Colibri as the common training type for federal and state pilots; 19 H155 with a maximum speed of 324 km/h; the two-and-a-half-year training pipeline
- Blaulichtreport Saarland: Unbekannter Hubschrauber über Saarbrückenpress, February 2023: a police spokesman confirming that the Saarland police have no helicopter of their own and must ask neighbouring states; the aircraft over Saarbrücken on 14 February 2023 was the Hessian Ibis 3
- Bundesaufsichtsamt für Flugsicherung: Flugvermessungofficial: flight calibration in Germany is carried out by commercial flight-inspection companies supervised by the BAF, not by a state flying unit; the example named is Flight Calibration Service
- OurAirports open airport and runway databasecoordinates, elevations, ICAO and IATA codes, runway designators, lengths and surfaces for every field on this page except Rastede, converted from feet to metres and rounded
- OpenStreetMap: Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel Fuhlendorfposition check for the Fuhlendorf heliport, which matches the OurAirports record filed as Bad Bramstedt Heliport, EDHX
- OpenStreetMap: Polizeihubschrauberstaffel Rastede bei Oldenburgthe only position source found for the Lower Saxony detachment at Rastede, which has no ICAO code and does not appear in the standard airfield databases
Figures verified 2026-09-20. Order of Battle pages are regenerated from a single dataset; if a number here disagrees with a Book of Beasts page, this page is the more recent of the two.
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