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 form AgustaWestland's Vergiate manufacturing facility in northern Italy. The second prototype, the first with production model engines, made its first flight from Vergiate on 26th 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.
Read more about this topic: Agusta Westland AW149
Famous quotes containing the words design and/or development:
“A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering.”
—Freeman Dyson (b. 1923)
“The young women, what can they not learn, what can they not achieve, with Columbia University annex thrown open to them? In this great outlook for women’s broader intellectual development I see the great sunburst of the future.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)