Leonardo seeks global companies to build and optimize its new attack helicopter

ROME — Italian company Leonardo is looking for industrial partners worldwide to come aboard its new AW249 attack helicopter. The company is currently flying two prototypes, preparing two more and bringing the platform to the Eurosatory trade fair in Paris.

Bigger and faster than the Italian Army’s aging AW129 Mangusta, which it is designed to replace, it is the only new attack helicopter currently being developed in the West. It will be able to control unmanned aerial vehicles using large screens and helmet displays inspired by the F-35 fighter jet.

“Due to the open architecture and our plan to keep the system in service for at least 30 years, we are open to industrial cooperation to enable countries to become partners in developing specific configurations, adapting equipment systems and localizing production for larger volumes,” a company spokesperson told Defense News ahead of Eurosatory.

Potential customers involving their industries could come from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, the spokesman said.

The plan recalls that Leonardo, then known as Finmeccanica, licensed the use of the basic design of the AW129 to Turkey, which further developed the helicopter and later sold the renamed T-129 to Nigeria and the Philippines.

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However, the spokesman said Leonardo’s approach was completely different this time.

“We are not telling governments to take a starting point and develop their own, we are inviting customers to join us from an industrial perspective,” he said.

Weighing 8.3 tonnes, the new AW249 has almost double the maximum takeoff weight of its predecessor of 4.35 tonnes, while its top speed of 155 knots (178 mph) exceeds the AW129’s 126 knots.

“What we have retained is agility and maneuverability while expanding our capabilities,” the spokesman said.

Armament includes guided and unguided 70mm rockets, infrared-guided air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface missiles guided by radio frequency or fiber optics. The pilot of the AW249 will be able to control UAVs, control their payload and view the images they transmit.

Talks are currently underway with the Italian Army, which will be the launch customer of the AW249 and whose first deliveries are scheduled for 2027, about whether the helicopter can also be used to control airborne munitions.

To keep pace with fifth-generation technology, the helicopter will be equipped with a 20-inch display for pilot and co-pilot, with videos and data able to be displayed either on the screen or on the helmet display.

Leonardo officials said pilots can display a map in their visor, but outside their field of vision, so that it appears on the visor display when the pilot turns his head.

The data exchange between the screen and the helmet also applies to sensor fusion data created by using sensors such as infrared imaging, radar, LiDAR or Light Detection and Ranging radar, a low-light camera and satellite terrain imagery.

The platform is nearing completion after officials from the Italian Ministry of Defense and Air Force showed serious interest in the coaxial rotor technology used in Lockheed Martin’s Defiant-X. However, that enthusiasm has waned since the Defiant-X was not approved under the U.S. Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program in 2022 and its next hope for adoption, the U.S. Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program, was canceled.

This, according to Leonardo representatives, justifies the company’s decision to stick with conventional designs like the AW249 while adding new features.

“The US decision reinforces our roadmap,” the spokesman said.

“Whatever industry chooses to develop that requires different architectures to meet national requirements, repealing FARA moves them far to the right,” he said.