| SA 365 Dauphin 2 AS365 Dauphin | |
|---|---|
.jpg) A British Army Air Corps Dauphin 2 landing at Glasgow Airport, Scotland | |
| General information | |
| Type | Medium utility helicopter |
| National origin | France |
| Manufacturer | Aérospatiale Eurocopter Airbus Helicopters |
| Status | In service |
| Primary user | Pawan Hans |
| Number built | 1,098[1] |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1975–2021[1] |
| Introduction date | December 1978 |
| First flight | 24 January 1975 |
| Developed from | Aérospatiale SA 360 Dauphin |
| Variants | Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin Eurocopter AS565 Panther Harbin Z-9 |
| Developed into | Eurocopter EC155 Eurocopter X3 |
The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS365 Dauphin (Dolphin), also formerly known as the Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2, is a medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It was originally developed and manufactured by French firm Aérospatiale, which was merged into the multinational Eurocopter company during the 1990s, and since 2014 Eurocopter was renamed Airbus Helicopters. Since entering production in 1975, the type has been in continuous production for more than 40 years, with the last delivery in 2021. The intended successor to the Dauphin is the Airbus Helicopters H160, which entered operational service in 2021.
The Dauphin 2 shares many similarities with the Aérospatiale SA 360, a commercially unsuccessful single-engine helicopter; however the twin-engine Dauphin 2 did meet with customer demand and has been operated by a wide variety of civil and military operators. Since the type's introduction in the 1970s, several major variations and specialised versions of the Dauphin 2 have been developed and entered production, including the military-oriented Eurocopter Panther, the air-sea rescue HH/MH-65 Dolphin, the Chinese-manufactured Harbin Z-9, and the modernized Eurocopter EC155 (formerly known as the EC155 B1). The Airbus Helicopters H160 replaced the AS365 in the product line (and the EC155).