400th AW139 delivered to the Qatar Armed Forces

20 June 2011 – AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that the Qatar Armed Forces has taken delivery of another AW139 medium twin helicopter. This aircraft is also the 400^th AW139 delivered so far worldwide and it will be operated by the Qatar Emiri Air Force for a number of roles including utility, troop transport, search and rescue, border patrol, special forces operations, law enforcement and homeland security.

The delivery of the 400^th AW139 marks another major milestone for the programme. The AW139 has become the best selling helicopter in its class for an impressive variety of commercial and government roles meeting the most demanding requirements across the globe. Since its certification in 2003, the AW139 has been constantly further enhanced to achieve ever increasing levels of performance, safety, mission effectiveness and capability to meet the very latest challenging requirements of present and future customers.

AgustaWestland is continuing its efforts to make the AW139 an even more competitive helicopter for the benefit of operators by introducing a range of upgrades as well as new role equipment. Developments introduced include a Maximum Gross Weight increase to allow higher payload and longer range missions, the unique Full Icing Protection System for real all weather capabilities and a 4-axis AFCS with SAR modes. The offshore market, where more than one third of AW139 sales have been logged so far, will be able to take advantage of many of the product enhancements AgustaWestland is implementing to improve the AW139’s capabilities.

The Qatar Armed Forces have ordered a total of twenty one AW139s of which three are dedicated to emergency medical service missions. The remainder of original order for 18 helicopters will be delivered by early 2012, followed by the EMS-configured aircraft. Qatar is one of the most important markets for the AW139 in the Middle East with orders for almost 40 helicopters of this model placed to date for both government and commercial applications.

The only new generation helicopter in its weight class, the AW139 sets new standards of performance in its class with the largest cabin in its category, a maximum cruise speed of 165 knots (306 km/h) and a maximum range in excess of 570 nm (1060 km) with auxiliary fuel. The aircraft has outstanding one engine inoperative capabilities, even in the hot and high operating conditions. The advanced integrated cockpit with state-of-the-art technology minimises pilot workload allowing the crew to concentrate on mission objectives. 400 aircraft are now in service performing many roles including EMS/SAR, offshore transport, VIP/corporate transport, law enforcement and military transport. Orders for more than 540 units have been placed by over 150 customers in more than 50 countries so far.