The first export example of the AgustaWestland Super Lynx 300 is being shipped to Malaysia as the Anglo-Italian manufacturer starts the delivery phase of its £100 million ($160m) contract to supply six aircraft for the Royal Malaysian Navy.
A pre-delivery inspection has been completed successfully on aircraft one, with four other aircraft due for delivery by September. Aircraft 3 will remain in the UK until spring 2004 under a separate contract to fit the Sea Skua missile system.
Assemble
AgustaWestland says that UK-based technical representatives will be on hand to assemble the aircraft and AgustaWestland aircrew will perform ground runs and flight trials, before the machines are presented for final acceptance.
Under a government to government contract, a Royal Navy aircrew team will be stationed at Lumut to provide further training. In addition, two technical representatives, one mechanical and one electrical, plus an LHTEC technical expert, will stay in Lumut for a year.
In addition to home-grown sales of the Super Lynx 300, AgustaWestland has now secured orders from the Royal Thai Navy, which has ordered two aircraft and the Sultanate of Oman, which has 16 -300s on order.
n AgustaWestland is celebrating a second success in Malaysia with the selection of the A109 ahead of the Eurocopter EC635 for the army's light utility helicopter (LUH) programme. It is believed that up to 10 aircraft are involved in the contract, but the manufacturer has made no public comment due to a non-disclosure agreement.
Source: Flight Daily News
