With the gearbox troubles of the EC225 now firmly behind it and the first customer deliveries of the delayed EC175 rapidly approaching, Airbus Helicopters can perhaps feel more comfortable about restarting its product-line renewal. And as this new image shows, a significant part of that renewal work may be underway in Germany. The image above, captured by German helicopter enthusiast Alexander Lutz, shows that the first prototype of the EC135 light twin has been radically modified. Photographed at the company's Donauworth plant in Bavaria in late July, the aircraft, D-HEEX, has a five-or six-blade main rotor rather than the previously standard four-blade model, and a newly designed, fenestron-shrouded anti-torque system. The new design features a horizontal stabilizer atop the vertical tail, rather than fitted into the tail boom itself, as has been traditional on this model.
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