AgustaWestland, Italian Air Force To Develop New Rotary-Wing Training Capabilities

AgustaWestland and the Italian Air Force today announced the signing of a Letter of Intent aimed at further strengthening their already well-established cooperation through the future set up of joint training solutions.

The announcement was made on the occasion of the official ceremony for the maiden flight of the first HH-101A CAESAR helicopter for the Italian Air Force held at Yeovil plant, UK, today.

The partners intend to co-develop new capabilities to meet the future rotary-wing training requirements by leveraging synergies between the AgustaWestland Training Organization based at its Frosinone plant, close to Rome, and the Italian Air Force 72nd Wing (72° Stormo), according to an official statement.

Through this mutually beneficial cooperation, AgustaWestland will further expand the level of service in the training sector to meet the evolving requirements of the customer, while the Italian Air Force will enhance the level of training for its personnel through an innovative, efficient strategy, the statement added.

The partners envisage the development of an integrated training solution based on the state-of-the-art AW139 light intermediate helicopter model, by which conversion training will be ensured to crews of both the Italian Air Force’s HH-139A/VH139, used for search and rescue and government transport duties respectively, and the HH-101A which will primarily be used for personnel recovery and special forces operations.