ILA 2026 – AW249’s international flying debut

The Leonardo AW 249 is making its international flying debut at ILA, courtesy of the fourth prototype in the test programme

To date the Leonardo AW249 has flown over 1,000 hours with four prototypes. Leonardo works in a joint programme with the National Armaments Directorate and the Italian Army to get the armed combat helicopter they want into service.

It’s been six years since the AW249 was launched, and the time has come for Germany to see it in action. Leonardo’s Lorenzo Mariani, the company CEO and General Manager said: “We are here in Germany because it is an important country for Italy economically, politically and industrially.”

It’s no secret that the Heeresfliger (German Army Aviation) is retiring its Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopter by 2031. While an armed Airbus H145M LKH is being classed as an interim solution until Germany decides to what any future roadmap will include – drones or helicopters. Italy believes the AW249 with German industrial co-operation could be a long term solution.

To find out the state of the programme, EDR On-Line spoke to Lt Col Marco Marinoni, a former AH 129 Mangusta pilot, now head of the AW-249 positioning programme for the Italian Army. “We want to buy 48 AW 249s to replace the Italian Army’s two regiments of Mangusta’s, that are now over 30 years old.”

Lessons learned from the combat operations of the Mangusta in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia are being used to ensure the AW249 is at the top of the operational game. He continued: “The AW249 will be a highly interoperable platform, with a digital, backbone that seamlessly integrates sensors, hardware, data fusion and data links to provide a true multi-domain common operational picture.

“This data has to be managed in the cockpit, so we have created dedicated working groups to sort out which data is more important and more relevant from a mission perspective.”

Three of the four prototypes are pre-production aircraft, which will be enhanced to be fully operational once delivered to the Italian Army. The one on display at ILA is the fourth prototype.

Serial production has already started, with first deliveries expected in 2028. Leonardo Helicopters’ Roberto Pretolani, Head of Military Specialised Platforms provided a breakdown of the 48 AW 249s that should be delivered to the Italian Army Aviation. “To date 19 have been contracted, and we are now in negotiations for an additional 14 and will eventually discuss the remaining 15.”

Although the first batch will have a full operational capability since the beginning, the second and third batch will incrementally introduce even more features. Through its open system architecture approach, Leonardo stressed that that the potential of the platform will continuously grow.

As Gian Piero Cutillo, Co-General Manager of Leonardo and Leonardo Helicopters Managing Director, said the day before when the aircraft was presented to the media: “Military operations are becoming increasingly complex, interconnected and multi-domain. As a direct consequence the requirements are continuously changing and the technologies have to allow and support these changes. The helicopter needs to evolve far beyond the traditional role, needing to become a critical command and control node within the battle space.”

While there were several missiles and air launched effectors on display with the AW249 in the static display, the company was keen to stress they were only for reference.

Lt Col Marinoni continued: “There will be a wide array of weapon systems to cope with several threats including air to ground, with different capabilities and guidance systems to neutralise many kinds of threats in different operational conditions.”

Clearly there is a need to integrate unmanned aerial systems with the AW249, and with Italy’s recent decision to acquire the Aerovironment Jump 20 UAS, this will certainly be one solution. There will be other Air Launched Effectors (ALEs) too.

The last word was left to Gian Piero Cutillo who boasted: ”The AW 249 Leonardo Next Generation Combat Helicopter is the only Western clean sheet combat helicopter currently under development.”

Photos by A. Warnes