The Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma is a four-bladed, twin-engined medium transport/utility helicopter designed and originally produced by the French aerospace manufacturer Sud Aviation.

Powered by a pair of Turbomeca Turmo turboshaft engines, it was designed to transport up to 16 seated soldiers, or a maximum of six litters with four attendants for casualty evacuation, along with carrying up to 2,500 kg of cargo either internally or using an external sling.

Several advanced derivatives have been developed, such as the AS332 Super Puma and AS532 Cougar, and have been manufactured by Eurocopter and its successor company Airbus Helicopters since the early 1990s.

Numerous operators have chosen to modernise their fleets, often adding more capabilities and new features, such as glass cockpits, Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation, and defense measures.

The SA 330 Puma was originally developed by Sud Aviation to meet a requirement of the French Army for a medium-sized all-weather helicopter capable of carrying up to 20 soldiers as well as various cargo-carrying duties.

[8] Romania entered into an arrangement with Aerospatiale to produce the Puma under license as the IAR 330, manufacturing at least 163 of the type for the Romanian armed forces, civil operators, and several export customers of their own.

As a troop carrier, up to 16 soldiers can be accommodated on foldable seats, while in a casualty evacuation configuration, the same cabin can hold up to six litters and four additional personnel.

[19] The Puma is readily air-transportable by tactical airlifters, such as the Transall C-160 and the Lockheed C-130 Hercules; the main rotor, landing gear, and tailboom are all detachable to lower space requirements.

[20] Although not included during the original production run, numerous operators of Pumas have installed additional features and modern equipment over the rotorcraft's service life.

[21] Third-party companies such as South Africa's Thunder City have provided life extension and modernisation programmes for the Puma, some operators have opted to refurbish their fleets with glass cockpits.

[23] On 3 April, while landing Argentine troops as part of the capture of South Georgia, a Puma was badly damaged by small arms fire from British ground forces and crashed into terrain shortly after.

[30][31] During the 1991 First Gulf War, France chose to dispatch several Pumas in support of coalition forces engaged in a conflict with Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Those Pumas that had been assigned to the role of performing combat search-and-rescue duties were quickly retrofitted with GPS receivers to enhance their navigational capabilities.

[33] In April 1994, a French Puma performed a nighttime extraction of a British SAS squad and a downed Sea Harrier pilot from deep inside hostile Bosnian territory, the aircraft came under small arms fire while retreating from the area.

[34][35] On 18 June 1999, a single coordinated aerial insertion of two companies of French paratroopers was performed by 20 Pumas, helping to spearhead the rapid securing of Kosovska Mitrovica by NATO ground forces.

On 23 August 1984, a Puma carrying the Lebanese Armed Forces' Chief-of-staff and commander of the Seventh Brigade, General Nadim al-Hakim, and eight other senior military officers crashed in thick fog near Beirut, killing all personnel aboard.

[40][41][42] During the final phase of the Lebanese Civil War, the Puma fleet – now reduced to seven or six helicopters of flightworthy condition[43] – was typically being used to conduct liaison flights with neighboring Cyprus on behalf of General Michel Aoun's interim military government, although fuel shortages and maintenance problems forced their crews to typically ground them until the end of the war in October 1990.

Re-designated SA 330SM, the resulting Puma gunship underwent trials on October 10 that same year during aerial maneuvers held in Hamat Air Base.

[46] Although the trials were successful, the SA 300SM was not accepted for active service, with the Lebanese Air Force Command settling instead on an armed version of the Eurocopter AS532 Cougar, of which seven helicopters were scheduled to be received over the next three years.

[52] In 2006, the Portuguese Air Force began receiving deliveries of the AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin, a larger and more capable helicopter, replacing the aging Puma fleet.

The majority of South African Puma acquisitions, including of spare parts, were made in advance of an anticipated United Nations embargo that was applied in 1977.

[55] South Africa subsequently upgraded many of its Pumas, eventually arriving at the derived indigenous Atlas Oryx; external assistance and components were obtained via secretive transactions involving Portugal during the arms embargo era.

[58] In 1982, the government confirmed that 15 servicemen had been killed when a South African Puma was downed by SWAPO forces, it was one of the worst losses suffered in a single incident in the conflict.

[59] During the 1990s, clandestine efforts to purchase surplus SAAF Pumas were made by then-President Pascal Lissouba of the Republic of Congo, most likely intended for use in the Congolese Civil War.

[60] When the cruise ship MTS Oceanos sank off the Wild Coast of South Africa in 1991, as many as 13 Pumas played crucial roles in the rescue efforts, winching 225 survivors to safety during bad weather conditions.