ALEA 2012 : AgustaWestland Promotes AW139 as a National Security Helicopter

AgustaWestland is pushing its military variant of the AW139 to meet the envisaged future needs of the US Department of Homeland Security and its various associated agencies.


Company officials say the AW139M, which was developed to meet the US Air Forces Common Vertical Lift Support Platform (CVLSP), would make make a highly cost-effective platform for missions carried out by DHS agencies including SAR, law enforcement and transport.


'While there has been much modernisation in the air assets of police departments across the United States, this hasn't been the case with the larger organisations,' said Andrew Gappy, business development manager for Federal programmes at AgustaWestland North America.


'They recapitalised the fixed wing types but not the helicopters, and yet during any major event, it is helicopters that everyone wants.'


The US Coast Guard operates a fleet of Eurocopter MH/HH-65 Dolphins for SAR. The type has been regularly updated, while US Customs and Border Protection operates a mix of Huey and Huey IIs in its fleet alongside larger UH-60 Black Hawks.

Gappy pointed out, however, that aircraft can only be upgraded so many times and it is not until new types are introduced that such agencies can enjoy new capabilities and carry out more missions.


'These agencies are having to become more budget conscious, and using a aircraft developed for the commercial market would be a cost-effective way of doing that.


'With the AW139 National Security Helicopter we are taking everything we have learnt over the past six years in developing the aircraft and using that experience to provide an aircraft capable of all these missions,' added Gappy.


No such requirement for a new aircraft for use by the DHS agencies has been published but recent documents from the CBP suggest that major procurements in the DHS would be more closely linked between agencies.

Small numbers of AW139s already serve in the law enforcement role in the US, including a pair serving with Customs and Border Protection and five with New Jersey State Police, while nine are on order from Maryland State Police.


It's not the first time the AW139 has been pushed as a possible coast guard aircraft. The type was chosen to be the Dolphin replacement as part of the Deepwater recapitalisation of the US Coast Guard, but the full Deepwater project was not realised and the Dolphin remains in service.