AgustaWestland AW149

AW149
AW149 at RIAT 2015
Role Medium-lift military helicopter
Manufacturer Leonardo-Finmeccanica
First flight 13 November 2009
Developed from AgustaWestland AW139
Variants AgustaWestland AW189

The AgustaWestland AW149 is a medium-lift military helicopter developed by AgustaWestland, now Leonardo-Finmeccanica. On 20 June 2011 AgustaWestland announced the AW189, a civilian development of the AW149, for service in 2013.[1]

Design and development

The AW149 was unveiled at the 2006 Farnborough Air Show. Derived from the AW139, the AW149 has a larger fuselage and more powerful engines, resulting in a greater cargo volume and payload carrying ability.[2] On 13 November 2009, the first prototype conducted its first flight from AgustaWestland's Vergiate manufacturing facility in northern Italy.[3] On 26 February 2011, the second prototype, the first with production model engines, made its first flight from Vergiate.[4]

AgustaWestland submitted a version of the AW149, designated TUHP149, as a candidate for the Turkish Utility Helicopter Programme (TUHP) for the Turkish Armed Forces. The programme sought an initial batch of 109 helicopters worth $4 billion, prospective follow-on orders for subsequent batches may eventually rise to 300 rotorcraft.[5][6] On 21 April 2011, the Turkish defence minister announced that the Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk had been selected as the winner.[7]

AgustaWestland hoped to have military certification of the in-development AW149 helicopter in a baseline configuration by the end of 2013. Italy's Armaereo military certification body will be presented with a baseline model with no mission equipment, countermeasures, or ballistic protection, which will be customer-specific items and require a second country-specific certification process. The landing gear can sustain a touchdown with a sink speed of 9.5 m/s, compared with the 2 m/s for a civilian helicopter. The AW149 is being marketed as an alternative to the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk family, but has yet to find a customer. The Italian Air Force considered it as a search and rescue helicopter, but chose the lighter AW139M.

Specifications (AW149)

Data from [8]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
Related lists

References

  1. ↑ "AgustaWestland Unveils The AW189 Helicopter". AgustaWestland. 20 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "AgustaWestland AW149 Product Brochure" (PDF). AgustaWestland. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  3. ↑ "AW149 & AW159 complete first flights". Australian Aviation. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  4. ↑ "AW149 Makes Its Public Premiere At The 2011 Paris Air Show". AgustaWestland. 20 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  5. ↑ ENGİNSOY, ÜMİT (21 March 2011). "Turkish defense panel may select new copter type Tuesday". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  6. ↑ Osbek, Tolga."Turkey to decide in June between AW149, 'T-70' Black Hawk." Flight International, 9 April 2007.
  7. ↑ Ozbek, Tolga (21 April 2011). "Sikorsky wins Turkish utility helicopter battle". Flight Global. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  8. ↑ "AW149". Italy. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

External links

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