AgustaWestland AW149

The AgustaWestland AW149 is a medium-lift military helicopter being developed by AgustaWestland. On 20 June 2011 AgustaWestland announced the AW189, a civilian development of the AW149, for service in 2013.

Design and development
The AW149 was unveiled at the 2006 Farnborough Air Show. Derived from the AW139, the AW149 has a larger fuselage and more powerful engines, resulting in a greater cargo volume and payload carrying ability.

The first prototype made its first flight 13 November 2009 from AgustaWestland's Vergiate manufacturing facility in northern Italy. The second prototype, the first with production model engines, made its first flight from Vergiate on 26 February 2011.

A version named TUHP149, and the Turkish T-70 version of the S-70i Black Hawk, were candidates for the Turkish Utility Helicopter Programme (TUHP). The programme covered an initial batch of 109 helicopters worth $4 billion, with a prospect for further orders in subsequent batches that may eventually top 300. On 21 April 2011 the Turkish defence minister announced that the Sikorsky T-70 Black Hawk had been declared the winner.

AgustaWestland hopes to have military certification of the in-development AW149 helicopter in a baseline configuration by the end of 2013. Italy's Armaereo military certification body will be presented with a baseline model with no mission equipment, countermeasures, or ballistic protection, which will be customer-specific items and require a second country-specific certification process. The landing gear can sustain a touchdown with a sink speed of 9.5m/s, compared with the 2m/s for a civilian helicopter. The AW149 is being marketed as an alternative to the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk family, but has yet to find a customer. The Italian Air Force considered it as a search and rescue helicopter, but chose the lighter AW139M. The AW149 is being offered for Poland's tri-service requirement for 70 helicopters against the Black Hawk and Eurocopter EC725. AgustaWestland believes it can fill the missions of anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, and troop transport, and can be manufactured in-country through its Polish subsidiary PZL-Swidnik.