NZDF TO PURCHASE AUGUSTA HELICOPTERS

01/06/2008 -

New Zealand has approved the start of contract negotiations with Augusta-Westland, the preferred tenderer for the supply of training and light utility helicopters to the New Zealand Defence Force. The contract was signed in Wellington in May, at the presence of the New Zealand Minister for Defence Phil Goff and the Ambassador of Italy Gioacchino Trizzino, by the New Zealand Secretary of Defence John Mckinnon and the General Manager of AugustaWestland Australia Philip Smith.  

The Italian-British company Augusta-Westland will supply five A109LUHs and a flight simulator for a market value of around 110 million NZ$. The helicopters should enter service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 2010.  

The A109 is wheeled and capable of deployment from navy vessels, it has also the advanced technology necessary for training pilots going on to the Seasprite and NH-90. The A109 has light utility capabilities including air transport, search and rescue, aero-medical evacuation, disaster response and surveillance and counter terrorism support.  

The bid won by Augusta-Westland is a great success for the firm, having prevailed over the other bidder, the French Eurocopter. It is also a clear affirmation of Italian technology and a further strengthening of economic co-operation between Italy and New Zealand.

Over the past months, AgustaWestland has also signed agreements with a number of leading New Zealand companies to deliver critical elements of the New Zealand Defence Force Training and Light Utility Helicopter program. The aim of these co-operations with local industry is to provide cost effective and timely service. The companies are: Beca Applied Technologies, Mace Engineering and Air Affairs Limited. Beca is a leading supplier of engineering, planning and project management services. The Mace Group of Companies specialises in precision machining, casting and fabrication work and is a major supplier to the electric power generation, defence and plastics and rubber industries.

AgustaWestland is a fully-owned Finmeccanica company. Finmeccanica, one of the biggest Italian private industry, employs more than 50,000 people worldwide with an annual turnover of € 11 Billion and with strategic interests in Helicopters, Defence Electronics, Aeronautics, Defence and Space Systems.

legals | credits | F.A.Q.