Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, today announced the sale of the first Bell 412EPI in Japan to Aomori Prefecture’s Firefighting and Disaster Prevention Agency.

“The Bell 412 is known around the world for its rugged reliability to perform the toughest of missions, and the new EPI offers improved performance with a state-of-the-art integrated avionics suite that improves situational awareness and reduces pilot workload,” said Richard Thornley, Bell Helicopter’s managing director in Japan. “We are incredibly pleased that Aomori Prefecture has chosen the Bell 412EPI – which continues the long legacy of Bell helicopters being used for life-saving missions in Japan.”

Aomori Prefecture was also the first customer to receive a Bell 412EP in Japan at the start of its helicopter operations in 1995. The new Bell 412EPI is expected to join their fleet in early 2016.

Introduced in 2013, the Bell 412EPI continues to garner interest from international customers, including the Canadian Coast Guard who recently signed an agreement to purchase seven of the aircraft.

Bell Helicopter press release