In order to avoid the heavy investment involved in acquiring a new fleet of helicopters, which is essential if future pilots of new-generation helicopters are to receive the best possible training, in January 2008 the DGA (Délégation Générale pour l’Armement) and the Ministry of Defence notified a public-private partnership contract. Under this contract, DCI (Défense Conseil International) and PROTEUS joined forces to create HELIDAX, which will become a service provider for the rental of helicopters dedicated to ab-initio training at the Dax school.
These are aircraft that the State does not own, but is the preferred user.

The EC120 B COLIBRI was chosen. However, in the military sector, it is common to speak of CALLIOPÉ, otherwise known as NHE for New Helicopter School.
It is true that the aircraft put into service by HELIDAX differs slightly from the version intended for the civilian market:

installation of cable cutters,
full EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System) instrument panel, with 2 screens plus a radiocompass (ADF) and an altimeter probe,
addition of two radio sets,
integration of a flight data recorder,
modification of the position lights to be compatible with the use of night vision devices.