Ronneby’s SAR is looking for a new location

The Swedish Maritime Administration announces that it will start to look for a new strategic location for its most southerly-based Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopter. The AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter, which operates from Kallinge Airport near Ronneby, was invited to move to the new military helicopter hangar that is being built at the other end of the air base perimeters, but the Maritime Administration says that the move would have a negative affect on the SAR operations.

- It has been our utter ambition is to find a solution that would enable a co-existence with the Armed Forces in the new H93 [hangar project] in Ronneby. However, we have concluded that a move to H93 would pose a potential safety hazard that the unit cannot accept, says Naomi Eriksson, Deputy General Director and Director of Air Rescue Services at the Maritime Administration.

The H93 hangar is a large 400-million-SEK project that aims to move all the helicopter operations from one side of the F17 Air Base to the other as the environmental permit will be revoked at the current location in 2017. The project, which is part of a large investment in the infrastructure at the air base, was approved by the Swedish Parliament back in 2004, and the final go-ahead was given by the Swedish Government in 2013. Work started in December 2013, and the hangar is expected to be finished in 2017.

The Swedish Maritime Administration has been involved in the planning, but it has now decided to leave the project in order to find a more suitable place that will meet the conditions required to conduct safe and reliable SAR operation.

Some of the reasons for leaving the H93 project are said to be the long taxi distances, a potentially crowded helipad and limited hangar space with no room for a backup SAR helicopter.

The Maritime Administration will finalize its study no later than September 30, and it says that it will strive to keep the helicopter in the Blekinge region, with Ronneby as its primary alternative.