Austria picks Leonardo AW169M

[RavenOne]

The Bundesheer have selected the AW169M to replace their legacy OH-58C Kiowa And Aerospatiale Alouette III

Bundesheer beschafft neue Hubschrauber

Die Entscheidung ist gefallen: Das Verteidigungsministerium kauft 18 Hubschrauber des Typs Leonardo AW169M, die Beschaffung erfolgt in Kooperation mit Italien und beläuft sich auf rund 300 Millionen Euro.

www.bundesheer.at

cheers

 

[VTOLicious]

The Bundesheer have selected the AW169M to replace their legacy OH-58C Kiowa And Aerospatiale Alouette III

Bundesheer beschafft neue Hubschrauber

Die Entscheidung ist gefallen: Das Verteidigungsministerium kauft 18 Hubschrauber des Typs Leonardo AW169M, die Beschaffung erfolgt in Kooperation mit Italien und beläuft sich auf rund 300 Millionen Euro.

www.bundesheer.at

cheers

The schedule...

 

[VTOLicious]

According to local news outlets the first AW169M was delivered today.
The agreement includes the delivery of 12 AW-169 M.A. (Multiruolo Avanzato - "advanced multi-purpose variant") and 6 AW-169 B (Addestratore Basico - "basic trainer"). I think the version with skids is the latter.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1605516837180936192

View: https://twitter.com/Bundesheerbauer/status/1605516837180936192?t=qGMwGHvXOBv_0nPhmLhseA&s=19

 

[VTOLicious]

Btw, the end plates on the horizontal stabilizer look pretty weird. Has anyone seen this on a AW169 before?

 

[TomS]

Btw, the end plates on the horizontal stabilizer look pretty weird. Has anyone seen this on a AW169 before?
View attachment 689774

Looks like it may be associated with the fixed skid landing gear?

Leonardo developing skids for AW169

Leonardo is test flying a prototype AW169 equipped with skids in preparation for the launch of a kit that will be available for both military and commercial markets.

verticalmag.com

It's on the Italian Guardia di Finanza LUH versions as well.

First AW169 LUH (UH-169) for the Guardia di Finanza?

First AW169 LUH (UH-169) for the Guardia di Finanza? On 29 December 2020, a new version of the Leonardo AW169M made an ILS approach at Venegono near Varese, Italy. Although not con...

www.scramble.nl

 

[RavenOne]

back In September I went back to my other neck of the woods and attended Airpower at Zeltweg air base , so it was sad to se the last flights of the legacy Alouette iII and the Italian Army Air Cavalry turned up with their only pair of UH169 on static and flying. Bearing in mind the Italian MoD and Army Air Cav will be helping supporting the Austrians when they receive their new AW169M. Anyhow here are my photos from Zeltweg



Cheers

 

[RavenOne]

Congratulations in order, just received press release from Leonardo of the handover of the first AW169M LUH the first of 18 …with additional options.



cheers

 

[VTOLicious]

About 25 years ago, when I served my military service with the Austrian Air Force, I worked on the Alouette III. I'm glad they finally get some up to date replacement. This will enable, without a doubt, a boost of capability.

 

[TomcatViP]

Btw, the end plates on the horizontal stabilizer look pretty weird. Has anyone seen this on a AW169 before?
View attachment 689774

Looks like it may be associated with the fixed skid landing gear?

Leonardo developing skids for AW169

Leonardo is test flying a prototype AW169 equipped with skids in preparation for the launch of a kit that will be available for both military and commercial markets.

verticalmag.com

It's on the Italian Guardia di Finanza LUH versions as well.

First AW169 LUH (UH-169) for the Guardia di Finanza?

First AW169 LUH (UH-169) for the Guardia di Finanza? On 29 December 2020, a new version of the Leonardo AW169M made an ILS approach at Venegono near Varese, Italy. Although not con...

www.scramble.nl

Looks like that are present to add pitch up moment, probably to help raising the nose to compensate for the extra drag and tilt down moment resulting from the skids.

They probably could have enlarged the tailplane but decided on this as it is a more compact solution with less impact on roll authority.

Additionally, during flare up manoeuvre, the airflow is redirected away from the torque rotor, preventing turbulent airflow from reaching it.

 

[RavenOne]

The contract options signed for another 18 x airframes

Leonardo and the Italian Secretariat General of Defence/National Armaments Directorate sign AW169M LUH Contract for Austria to exercise options for additional helicopters

www.leonardo.com

'
The 304 million EUR Contract for additional 18 helicopters follows the Italy-Austria Government-to-Government (G2G) Agreement amendment signed in December 2022 and brings to 36 the total number of AW169M LUH for the Austrian MoD

The Italy-Austria G2G initiative is aimed at reinforcing the bilateral collaboration between the two countries and establishing a strategic partnership in the rotorcraft sector

The AW169M LUHs will be able to carry out a wide range of missions supporting Austrian defence requirements and the national community, including troop transport, combat operations, disaster relief and emergency response, fire-fighting, mountain rescue and MEDEVAC.



Leonardo and the Directorate for Air Armaments and Airworthiness of the Italian Secretariat General of Defence/National Armaments Directorate signed yesterday the Acquisition Contract for the supply of an additional 18 AW169M Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) to the Austrian Ministry of Defence. The contract, valued at 304 million EUR, was signed following the Italy-Austria Government-to-Government (G2G) Agreement amendment signed in December 2022, through which Austria is exercising options for these additional units, providing further evidence of its confidence in the selected platform.

cheers

 

[VTOLicious]

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