United States-based Bristow Group has acquired Great Britain's search and rescue helicopter services for 1.6 billion pounds, a deal that ends military involvement in saving lives on land and at sea for 70 years.

The services to be handed to Bristow are expected to reduce response times by 4 minutes to an average 19 minutes and increase the time response to high risk areas within 30 minutes, the Department of Transport said.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said in a statement that people can be more confident in Bristow and its ability to offer first-class service with state-of-the-art helicopters as the group continues to provide search and rescue helicopters service in the UK for 24 years.

Under the new contract, 22 helicopters are set to operate from 10 locations around the country once the new service achieves full operation in 2017.