Air Corps Receive first AW139 helicopter

[Frank]

Air Corps Receive first AW139 helicopter


The Minister for Defence Mr. Willie O’Dea is pleased to announce that the first of four AW139 helicopters ordered for the Irish Air Corps was accepted from Agusta Westland at Vergiate near Milan, Italy earlier today.


Air Corps pilots have now commenced training on the AW139 in Italy. Training will continue until late October when the second helicopter will be ready for acceptance trials. Following acceptance of the second helicopter, both AW 139 helicopters will be scheduled to arrive in Baldonnel in mid-November 2006.

The Air Corps will use the aircraft for a range of duties including transport of special operation units of the Defence Forces, air ambulance, overland search and rescue and VIP transport.


The AW139 utility helicopter was selected by the Department of Defence in December 2004 following a tender competition. In January 2005, Minister O’Dea signed a contract for the purchase of the 4 AW 139 helicopters at a cost of €48.4m, inclusive of VAT. The four helicopters are being built at the Agusta facility near Milan, Italy.


The AW139 is powered by two Pratt & Whitney PT6C-67C engines. The helicopter has a large unobstructed cabin with sliding doors which allows for easy access and egress for troops and equipment. In the cockpit the aircrew have a fully integrated digital avionics and cockpit display system, which includes a duplex autopilot, flight management system with GPS and a radio navigation system.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

A total of 6 helicopters are being purchased for the Air Corps at an overall cost of €60m approx. 2 Light Utility EC135 helicopters have already been supplied by Eurocopter SAS and are in operational service.

AgustaWestland are supplying 4 AW139 Utility Helicopters, two of which will arrive in Baldonnel in November. The other two will be delivered in the first six months of 2007.

The four utility helicopters will be operated by the Air Corps in general purpose military operational and training roles. Primary taskings will include training and operations with Special Forces, security and aid to the civil power, military exercises, infantry interoperability training and limited troop transport. They will also be used to perform air ambulance, inland Search and Rescue, aid to the civil community and VIP transport tasks.

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