Aerospace maintenance and systems provider Marshall has delivered of the first AeroMedical Evacuation System (AMES) to the Bangladesh Air Force, providing the service with a new humanitarian assistance, disaster relief (HADR) capability.
In a 3 July 2024, release, Marshall stated that the AMES system was designed, engineered, tested and assembled in-house as part of the company’s Adaptable Role-fit Capability (ARC) family of palletised products, providing medium and high dependency patients with advanced medical care during airlift transport.
Developed alongside medical experts and fleet operators, AMES can be installed onto or removed from an aircraft in a matter of hours without any permanent modifications, Marshall said.
The AMES system was created to be used interchangeably on the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules or other tactical airlifters compatible with 463L pallets and is reconfigurable for specific medical needs.
The Bangladesh Air Force also recently took delivery of its fifth and final C-130J Super Hercules, the company announced in June. All five aircraft were upgraded and prepared by Marshall and likely primarly for use in peacekeeping and HADR missions.
The project began in 2018 with the acquisition of the aircraft from the UK Ministry of Defence. The programme’s major components included decommissioning the aircraft from their previous roles in the UK Royal Air Force, upgrading avionics, and enhancing the aircraft’s capabilities for passenger transport and survival operations.
Marshall’s ARC family
An earlier medical evacuation system, co-developed by Marshall and Nodin Aviation, was designed to convert a Scandinavian Airlines Boeing 737-700 commercial airliner into an airborne hospital. T
he system has seen use in response to recent high-profile incidents, including evacuating Norway’s King Harald V from Malaysia on 3 March 2024 and evacuating injured Ukrainian soldiers in 2022, Marshall stated.
Other products within Marshall’s ARC family include ARC radar, a modular sensor suite that allows operators of tactical transport aircraft to temporarily outfit an aircraft for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Additional reporting by Andrew Salerno-Garthwaite.
