AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company and a global leader in military and commercial vertical-lift, attends Marrakech Airshow 2014, taking place from April 23 through 26, displaying an Italian Air Force AW139M intermediate twin helicopter and a AW109 Power light twin operated by INAER for VIP transport missions.
With a significant and growing presence in Africa, with approximately 200 helicopters on order by both commercial and government customers, AgustaWestland has been experiencing great successes in markets such as military, offshore and corporate/VIP transport.
As the military variant of the extremely successful AW139, the “M” version is expected to attract significant interest from government operators requiring an cost effective “off-the-shelf” multi-role helicopter. The AW139M has all the outstanding features of its AW139 commercial counterpart together with a wide range of military equipment options. These options include dedicated equipment such as armoured cockpit seats to improve crew protection, ballistic-tolerant self-sealing fuel tanks, heavy duty landing gear, high-definition FLIR, defensive aids suite, crashworthy troop seats, mission specific avionics and tactical communications, an external weapon stores system. The AW139M also features a low thermal and acoustic signature.
The AW109 Power twin turbine helicopter AgustaWestland is the market leader in serving the needs of the corporate community since its introduction. The aircraft offers a unique combination of cost effectiveness, elegance, high speed, passenger comfort and safety. The AW109 Power with seats for the pilot and up to seven passengers has a cruise speed of 154 knots (285 km/h) with a spacious passenger cabin tailored and finished to the highest levels of Italian craftsmanship.
With an ever expanding product portfolio, AgustaWestland sees further significant business opportunities in Africa for its range of solutions. The all new AW169 4.5 tonne class, whose certification is expected at the end of 2014, and the recently certified 8.3 tonne AW189 have further enhanced AgustaWestland’s capability to meet the latest market demand. AgustaWestland is the only helicopter manufacturer able to offer operators a family of next generation helicopters spanning the 4.5 to 8 tonne weight range. The AW169, AW139 and AW189 share the same design philosophy, safety features, maintenance concept and common cockpit design, all of which will deliver reduced through life costs for the operator of more than one type.
As far as military requirements is concerned, AgustaWestland is able to offer the most suitable products for the task, be it homeland security duties, light utility helicopter and naval roles-dedicated helicopters.