AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, announced that the Government of the State of San Paulo in Brazil has placed an order for a GrandNew light twin helicopter. The aircraft will be operated by the Military Police of the State of San Paulo to perform environmental and forest patrols and airborne surveillance missions in the State of San Paulo and will be delivered in 2014. The contract also includes a comprehensive logistic support and maintenance package which will be supplied by AgustaWestland do Brasil, headquartered in San Paulo.

Procurement was made under the Programa de Recuperação Socioambiental da Serra do Mar e Sistema de Mosaicos da Mata Atlântica (Social and Environmental Recovery Programme of the Serra do Mar and Atlantic Forest) , following a tender issued by the State of San Paulo Forest Conservation which selected the GrandNew as the best platform among competing types. The contract marks the first order by the Government of the State of San Paulo for an AgustaWestland helicopter and adds one more GrandNew in a law enforcement configuration in Brazil, following an order for one helicopter of same type made by the State of Rio de Janeiro.

A highly successful helicopter in the Brazilian market, with over 50 units already ordered to perform various missions including VIP/corporate and passenger transport, the GrandNew represents a step change in capability for the operator with its state-of-the-art digital avionics for single/dual pilot Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operation and a four-axis dual duplex digital autopilot coupled with a Flight Director. Additionally the helicopter is equipped with the Chelton Flight Systems’ Flight-Logic Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS), Synthetic Vision and Highway In the Sky (HITS) embedded functions to deliver ultimate situational awareness, high safety and groundbreaking automated flight management capabilities.

The new glass-cockpit with a redesigned layout provides excellent visibility and an ergonomic working space for the pilots. A new Radio Management System (RMS) permits the integrated management of radio communication and navigation systems of the helicopter while the Integrated Display System (IDS) provides aircraft/engine data monitoring, crew alert and maintenance data pages. Furthermore the GrandNew is the fastest helicopter in its category with the most spacious cabin providing rapid redeployment to the target area and fast patrolling.

Agusta Westland press release