Following the announcement that flight testing of the PS4 pre-production prototype of Leonardo’s AW09 is about to get underway at Kopter’s Mollis facility in Switzerland, Leonardo has revealed that it and production examples will be powered by a 1000shp variant of Safran’s Arriel 2K, the latest version of the Arriel engine family.

Besides the engine’s capabilities, Leonardo points to the combined Leonardo and Safran Helicopter Engines support network, which it says will provide innovative, simplified and competitive maintenance solutions and cost of operations, sustained by tailored service plans and SBH (Support-By-the-Hour) contracts as well as a large range of digital services.

Commenting on the announcement Gian Piero Cutillo, MD of Leonardo Helicopters, said: “Since the integration of Kopter into our organisation and the introduction of the AW09 into our product range, we have firmly maintained our commitment to deliver to the market exactly what it expects from a single engine of the latest standards backed by an efficient and responsive global support network. The decision to select this propulsion system is totally consistent with this strategy, and we look forward to working with our partner to bring the most modern single engine on the commercial market.”

“We are proud that Leonardo has placed its trust once again in Safran Helicopter Engines to power its latest light helicopter. We will bring to the AW09 our strong expertise in single-engine helicopter applications together with the specific features of the engine. The Arriel 2K engine is the latest version of the well-known Arriel engine family and will clearly bring a high level of capability, reliability and ease of operations to the AW09.” added Franck Saudo, Safran Helicopter Engines CEO.

The PS4 prototype, which incorporates the lessons from previous incarnations, is expected to be followed by PS5, the final pre-production prototype which will take the programme to certification by the middle of this year.

 

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