Italian Army Receives 487 Million For Next-Gen AW129

The Italian Army has received a grant fund of 487 million dollars from the Italian Parliament’s Defense Committee to create a new helicopter which will replace the current 1980’s AW129 Mangusta attack helicopter. Agusta Helicopter's AW129 Mangusta was originally produced and designed by Agusta and holds the distinction as being the first attack helicopter to be wholly produced and designed in Europe. It entered service in the Italian Army back in 1990’s.

It was originally demanded by the Italian Army that an attack helicopter be designed to be anti-armor, for armed reconnaissance, as well as support in ground attacks, to escort and other fire support anti-aircraft roles. It was the first of its kind to make full use of a fully computerized integrated management system in order to reduce workload.

Also much of the helicopter’s functionality was automated with parts of it directly controlled by a computer onboard. Daniele Marantelli who is a PD member stated that the new version of the AW129 Mangusta will combine the efforts of local universities and research centers in order to benefit from the assembly with Varese province and second-tier suppliers. Agusta Westland’s Vergiate factory will host the construction of the first prototype and is expected to be finished in 2020 according to Defense Aerospace reports.