The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-lift helicopter used in both military and civil applications. It was developed by joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the UK and Agusta in Italy and was named the EH101 until 2007. It is manufactured at factories in Yeovil, England and Vergiate, Italy. It has replaced many older helicopters such as the Sikorsky S-61 for roles such as medium-sized transport and anti-submarine warfare.
The AW101 first flew in 1987, and entered into service in 1999. In 2000, Westland Helicopters and Agusta merged to form AgustaWestland.
The name Merlin is in common usage for those AW101s in service with the British, Danish and Portuguese militaries. The AW101 is also operated by Italy and Japan. The CH-149 Cormorant variant is used by Canada for conducting air-sea rescue operations. In the US, the VH-71 Kestrel variant was to serve as the Marine One aircraft in the US presidential transport fleet, but the program was cancelled. The AW101 is also being used in civilian service, often for the VIP transport mission.
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