Leonardo in ‘advanced’ talks to expand Italian Army’s AW-249 combat helicopter fleet

BERLIN — Leonardo and the Italian Ministry of Defense are in “advanced” talks to expand the Italian Army’s AW-249 combat helicopter fleet, company officials said Thursday.

Standing next to a full-scale model of the aircraft, envisioned not just as a helo but as a command node in a crewed-uncrewed teaming network capable of controlling multiple drones at once, company executives said they are eyeing ambitious production and delivery rates for the Italian service. 

“Leonardo is aiming to produce and deliver 17 units to the Army by 2028 — at present we have 19 aircraft already procured and 14 more are being negotiated, out of a total requirement for 48 helicopters,” Roberto Pretolani, head of Leonardo’s military specialized platforms for helicopters marketing, told reporters at the Berlin Air Show.

The AW-249, which is being developed as a replacement for the country’s aging AW-129 fleet, has entered the final stage of capability qualification, with the company having already made a headstart on series production.

According to Pretolani, Leonardo has been experimenting with crewed-uncrewed teaming since 2015. Last year, Rome awarded a $46.6 million contract to US-based company AeroVironment for the procurement of an undisclosed number of Jump 20 drones — a medium-class, fixed-wing platform with an advertised range of 185 kilometers (115 miles).

“Going on the AW-249, we are already in the phase of implementing this concept with the asset selected by the Army as a tactical UAS,” he said.

Pretolani said the drone’s integration is independent of the 2028 start date for the helicopter deliveries, whose interface has been designed to work “with multiple drones.” 

At the Berlin Air Show, the combat helicopter was displayed alongside several European-made armaments that company officials said could be integrated onto the platform upon customer request, including MBDA-produced Brimstone, Akeron LP, and Fulgur missiles. The Fulgur is in development for the Italian Army. 

One of the use-cases envisaged for the platform could be to “fly at high-speed and low-level in order to penetrate deep into enemy territory,” Marco Marinoni, head of the AH-249 acquisition program in the Italian Army, said. 

Throughout the war in Ukraine, combat helicopters have often been observed operating at low levels as part of detection tactics to avoid anti-air defenses. However, it is rarer to see them deployed to conduct deep strikes into Russian territory largely due to the threats posed by drones and air defense networks. 

Beyond Italy, Leonardo is targeting Europe and the Middle East as priority markets for the helicopters, said Pretolani.