SH-3 Sea King, which was evaluated against the type. Both civilian and military versions of the Super Frelon were built, with the military variants being the most numerous by far, entering service with the French military as well as being exported to Israel, South Africa, Libya, China and Iraq. Three military variants were produced: military transport, anti-submarine and anti-ship. The transport version is able to carry 38 equipped troops, or alternatively 15 stretchers for casualty evacuation tasks. During 1963, Sud Aviation began work on what would become the Puma, a mid-sized helicopter, 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. The choice was made to develop a completely new design for the helicopter with backing from the French government. The first of two Puma prototypes flew on 15 April 1965; deliveries to the French Army commenced in early 1969. The Puma was an instant success on the export market, numerous countries purchased military variants to serve in their armed forces; the type was also popularly received in the civil market, finding common usage by operators for transport duties to off-shore oil platforms. Throughout most of the 1970s, the SA 330 Puma was the best selling transport helicopter being produced in Europe. By July 1978, over 50 Pumas had already been delivered to civil customers, and the worldwide fleet had accumulated in excess of 500,000 operational hours. Numerous nations struck deals of manufacture the Puma overseas. Romania produced it under license as the IAR 330, manufacturing at least 163 of the type for the Romanian armed forces, civil operators, and several export customers. Indonesia also undertook domestic manufacturing of the Puma. South Africa became a prolific Puma operator as well, performed their own major modification and production program conducted by the government-owned Atlas Aircraft to upgrade their own Pumas; the resulting rotorcraft was named the Oryx. On 20 May 1965, Sud Aviation acquired the bankrupt Morane-Saulnier aircraft company from Potez, and established a new subsidiary, (GEMS), to manage its assets. In early 1966, Sud Aviation created a new subsidiary, SOCATA, to continue development and production of the Rallye family of light aircraft inherited from Morane-Saulnier. Sud Aviation soon transferred GY-80 production to SOCATA as well. During 1966, Sud Aviation began working on a light observation helicopter as a successor to its Alouette II.