Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland and Russian Helicopters, a subsidiary of Oboronprom, part of State Corporation Rostec said they recently signed a Heads of Agreement defining the joint design and development program for a new 2.5-ton class single-engine helicopter.
The agreement was signed in August by Daniele Romiti, CEO of AgustaWestland, and Russian Helicopters CEO Dmitry Petrov at the MAKS 2013 air show.
The program, first announced by the partners in summer 2012, is intended to be shared on a 50/50 basis, with the new helicopter being designed for the worldwide market and a wide range of applications.
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The preliminary assessment of the helicopter’s technical design and commercial opportunities is expected to be completed in the next few months.
Petrov said: “This agreement is a new step in the mutually beneficial cooperation between our companies. Russian Helicopters as a global rotorcraft market player is actively involved in international projects on manufacturing localization and the development of new helicopter models. Our cooperation with AgustaWestland is moving forward successfully and has become one of our key priorities.”
Romiti said: “This agreement with Russian Helicopters expands our successful partnership which started with the establishment of the joint venture HeliVert for the local assembly of the best-selling AW139 model. We are delighted to be progressing to the next stage of this program covering the design and development stages. The soon-to-be-completed technical and market assessment will allow us to define the basis for a modern, cost/effective product to successfully compete globally.”