On 21st November, Leonardo-Finmeccanica announced that the primary helicopter AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin Mk4 with success performed its maiden flight on October 24, at the plant in Yeovil in southeast England. Leonardo is going to ‘ modernization of 25 AW101 Merlin Mk3 / 3A the Royal Navy , resulting in the new standard Merlin Mk4 / 4A under the program known as Merlin Life Sustainment Programme (MLSP). The contract, the worth of 330 million pounds , had been awarded by the UK Ministry of Defense in January 2014. Deliveries of the cars are going to be launched by the establishment Leonardo Yeovil in 2017 and will continue until 2020. The helicopters AW101 Merlin Mk4 / 4A , optimized for naval operations, are equipped with tail and main rotor blades fold automatically and the same cockpit of the Navy Merlin Mk2 UK with screens 10 “x 8”, two touch screen units for the management of the helicopter systems and dell ‘ equipment and mission systems for access to tactical information. L ‘ AW101 Merlin Mk4 will guarantee better operational capabilities for the Commando Helicopter Force Navy UK, additionally benefiting from common maintenance services to those already insured below the prevailing contract IMOS (Integrated Merlin Operational Support), effective since 2006 and for which Leonardo He plays the role of prime contractor.
Kieran O’Brien, head of the Merlin program to the Agency for the acquisitions of the defense of the UK government, said: “This is a great day for us and an important milestone for the modernization of Merlin. The conversion from the previous version called Mk3 / 3a to the new Mk4 / 4a standards, given the strict timing of the program, has proved a great success and this first flight is an extraordinary news for the Royal Navy . The activities necessary to reach the maiden flight of the new variant of an airplane is never trivial, and this result was only possible thanks to the teamwork carried out by us along with Leonardo . We still have much to do but once the program is completed, our Commando Helicopter Force (CHF) will have a very capable helicopter for the relevant tasks and capable of operating in a maritime environment. “
