The Dutch requested the floats on the birds. The flirs I am not sure if they bought 8 or if they bought a few and switch them. I know some of the radios inside are switchable and depending on the mission that is what they do. The floats are a good idea and actually work! So, I guess for the small price of the floats you can save an 8 million or so helicopter and crew.
I have heard and seen an EC 135 and our customers who eventually bought the 900 never looked back and seemed to wonder why they ever bought the EC 135. It is a good bird, but for ride, functionality, maintainance etc, the 900 is the way to go!
If you have any articles on this subject I would like to read them. I spent almost 2.5 years doing structural analysis on this bird and helping to get it certified both for the FAR's (US) and the JAR's. What a *&^%!. Thanks for the reply
As a side note, the helicopters as equipped that your country is getting are probably the finest and most capable law enforcement helicopters in the world today! I have many more pics of equipment etc that I can post if you like. I will put them in my photo album on my site and post the link. Might take a bit as I have like hundreds and hundreds.