Dawes Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 So is the UK-built AW149 considered a lock to get this award? https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/leonardo-encouraged-by-uk-commitment-to-new-medium-lift-helicopter-and-national-industry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucklucky Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 I am afraid the military want fancy VSTOL stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Probably Dawes. At the Defence Review discussion in Parliament, he said the medium lift was an opportunity to Leonardo (Augusta Westland). It will be interesting to see if the removal of European competition rules will speed the process up at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariete! Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Honestly, there is one (1) unit with those Pumas... why add a whole new type? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 They want to throw Leonardo a bone after screwing them on the Apache update? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahawk Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 More Wildcats seem to make more sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 Depends what they want to use it for. A Wildcat carries 6, an AW149 carries twice that many. Although I would fully admit, a Wildcat certainly does give you more options in weaponry and sensors. Looked at objectively, if they support the 149 production line, they have a ready made alternative for the American assault helicopter competition when the US Army finally figures out they dont really want the complication of a high speed helicopter. Which when you look at the problems they had in the past with high speed helicopters doesnt look at all impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucklucky Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 (edited) Yes, after the F-35 debacle the US Army seems to want to have go from themselves to another big one with V-280/ Defiant. Wildcat is too small and you can put missiles in AW 149. USAF bought the AW 139, the version that originated AW 149 to service their nuclear missiles replacing Huey. Bristow Helicopters are using AW 189 (AW149 non militar variant) for SAR on contract replacing RAF and Royal Navy. Edited April 1, 2021 by lucklucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Galbraith Posted April 2, 2021 Share Posted April 2, 2021 Thanks for that, I didnt know the USAF had bought it. It seems only 5 minutes ago they were upgrading all their Huey H models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawes Posted April 2, 2021 Author Share Posted April 2, 2021 In USAF service it's called the MH-139 Grey Wolf, with Boeing as prime contractor: https://www.boeing.com/defense/mh-139a/index.page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucklucky Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 An interesting thing is that AW-139 was initially AB-139, Agusta-Bell, Bell had a 25% share. But sold it to Agusta, i don't know the reason. With more than 1000 sold they might regret it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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