Air Support Unit

The Metropolitan Police Air Support Unit (ASU) is now part of Central Operations. We are based at Lippitts Hill, Loughton where helicopter air support has been providing cover to London for almost 25 years.

The unit currently operates three Eurocopter EC145 helicopters on a 24-hour basis flying an average of over 275 hours per month. These are the first aircraft of this type to be used by any UK air support unit, although they are already widely used in Europe. The Metropolitan Police Service aircraft currently have an average of 1,100 hours in each aircraft.

The unit is staffed by 18 police constables, three police sergeants and is supervised on a local level by a police inspector (Also known as the Unit Executive Officer). The unit also employs police staff including pilots, operations room staff, engineers and an intelligence officer.

Each aircraft is crewed by a pilot and two police officers, called observers. Each observer has a different role in the aircraft, and between them and the pilot, an effective level of support is provided to police ground units.