AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that the Qatar Armed Forces has taken delivery of its first AW139 medium twin helicopter during an official ceremony held today at AgustaWestland’s Vergiate plant in Italy, in the presence of Qatar Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Hamad Bin Ali Al Attiyah and Qatar Emiri Air Force Chief of Staff General Mubarak Al-Khayarin. The aircraft will be operated by the Qatar Emiri Air Force supporting various government agencies to perform a range of roles including utility, troop transport, search and rescue, border patrol, special forces operations, law enforcement and homeland security. A contract for 18 units was signed in August 2008 which also included crew training and an initial spares package. The Qatar Armed Forces becomes the third operator of military-configured AW139 helicopters following the Irish Air Corps and UAE Armed Forces.

Giuseppe Orsi, Chief Executive Officer, AgustaWestland said “It gives us great pleasure to celebrate the handover of the first AW139 to such an important customer ahead of the planned delivery schedule. The military configured AW139 has been developed to meet the Qatar Armed Forces’ demanding requirements and I am confident it will exceed their operational expectations in service.“ Designed to be easily and quickly converted between roles, the AW139 is perfectly suited for military and public security applications. The AW139 cabin can be configured to carry 8 to 15 troops in its spacious eight cubic metre cabin. Large sliding cabin doors allow both troops and equipment to be loaded and unloaded easily and quickly.