Leonardo Helicopters’ AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat is making its ILA debut, as the Italian company tries to catch the eye of the German navy.
Three examples belonging to the UK Royal Navy are on display and the company is touting the small footprint of the rotorcraft that makes it suitable for corvette and offshore patrol vessel deployments.
Hot off the success of the acquisition of the type by the Philippine navy in March, plus the selection of the type by South Korea in 2013, Leonardo Helicopters is eyeing up its next customer for the new generation Lynx, with the German navy understood to be among those interested.
Berlin has 18 of the rival NH Industries naval frigate variant of the NH90 helicopter – known locally as Sea Lion – on order for its navy, and an AW159 sale to Germany would be a significant coup for the Italian-British manufacturer. The original naval rotorcraft requirement sought to acquire up to 30 aircraft.
When the NH90 was eventually purchased by the navy, in March 2015 in controversial circumstances – the numbers were renegotiated over the acquisition programme – it was taken on condition the army’s order was cut from 122 to 80 examples.
The German inventory includes six Lynx Mk.88 and 21 Sea King Mk.41 rotorcraft, both manufactured by Leonardo and the latter of which is 40 years old on average, Flightglobal’s Fleets Analyzer database shows.
The AW159 is also being pitched to the Malaysian navy for its anti-submarine warfare requirement, which saw Leonardo Helicopters and local company Global Komited sign a teaming agreement in April to distribute the type in-country if selected. Deliveries to Korea, meanwhile, are pending.
“Leonardo-Finmeccanica has manufactured the first batch of AW159s for the Republic of Korea and is poised for delivery following acceptance by the customer,” the company tells Flight Daily News.
The British Army and Royal Navy have a combined fleet of 48 Wildcats, which have been delivered and operated aboard the Type 23 frigates.
The AW159s on display are carrying Leonardo’s Seaspray 7000E active electronically scanned array radar and HIDAS electronic warfare equipment. Seaspray can carry out small target detection, while the defensive aids suite is also used on the Boeing AH-64 Apache, which has gained operational experience with the UK.
Source: Flight Daily News
