A NEW £4.5m police helicopter will serve Oxfordshire from August next year.

It will replace the existing Chiltern Air Support Unit helcopter, based at RAF Benson, which completed 10,000 flying hours last month after entering service with Thames Valley Police in April 1999.

Police said the aircraft had now recorded the second highest airborne hours of any Eurocopter EC135 in the world.

Sgt Kevin Robinson, who manages the air support unit at RAF Benson, said: “It’s a Home Office requirement that we must have this new £4.5m helicopter in August, with 40 per cent of the funding coming from the Home Office.

“The new helicopter will be almost identical to the old one, but it has autopilot facilities for flying in cloud and bad weather.

“We’re looking forward to continuing the level of service we provide with an enhanced aircraft.”

Supt Tony Ismay, head of the Thames Valley Police’s tactical support department, said: “I’m proud one of our aircraft has become only the second of its type to reach 10,000 flying hours.

“Both of the Chiltern Air Support Unit aircraft have a range of hi-tech equipment, including thermal imager and daylight cameras, which help to provide an extra dimension to policing.

“The service they provide ranges from assisting with searching for offenders and missing people to evacuating casualties, and as can be seen from the figures, they are of huge benefit to both the public and our officers.”

In 1996, Thames Valley Police combined with Hertfordshire Constabulary and Bedfordshire Police to form the Chiltern Air Support Unit consortium.

As well as the Eurocopter EC135 based at Benson, the unit has a second EC135 based at RAF Henlow, in Bedfordshire.

Between them, the two helicopters can cover five counties.

To mark the EC135’s milestone, a certificate was presented to the Chiltern Air Support Unit at RAF Benson by Markus Steinke, the managing director of Eurocopter UK, which has its headquarters at Oxford Airport, in Kidlington.

He said: “I congratulate Chiltern Air Support Unit on this remarkable achievement.”