AW159 Lynx Wildcat makes maiden flight

[GOOSE]

The AW159 helicopter destined for the British Army and Royal Navy was given its first test flight Nov. 12, manufacturer AgustaWestland said.

The new multirole helicopter, formerly known as the Future Lynx, made its first flight at AgustaWestland's Yeovil facility and will be joined by two additional aircraft in 2010 to complete flight testing.

Sixty two of the 6-ton helicopters, which will be known as the Lynx Wildcat, have been ordered for the two services. The first aircraft will be delivered in 2011, to become operational with the Army in 2014 and the Royal Navy in 2015.

More from defencenews here - http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i= ... =AIR&s=TOP

[RichC]

Shame once again however they are replacing three types with one and at a much reduced number.
62 Wildcats (initially 75) to replace all of the Navy Lynx Mk3 and Mk8, Royal Marines Lynx Mk7, British Army Mk7 and Mk9 Lynx and British Army Gazelles.
A reduction in what.... anyone got the number of what we had a few years ago with all those types combined?

Lay off all the crews or put them elsewhere, buy a reduced number to replace and then two years down the line the Generals and Admiralty will complain they don't have enough to do the job!

Noted also...
4.4 tonnes for the original Lynx (+/- a few kilos) compared to 6 tonnes for the Wildcat is quite something, i wonder what the extra two tonnes in weight is?

[Dan D'Air]

Anybody got a picture of it?

[T_J]

Anybody got a picture of it?

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... d-for.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TJ

[RichC]

The horizontal stabiliser looks like it is bolted on and wouldn't survive the manoeuvres normally carried out by the Lynx in training... but then it obviously works.

[Doughnut]

Looking at the image the aircraft carries serial ZZ400. Does anybody know if this airframe is a new build. I thought that the Westland had taken an existing Lynx airframe for modification, if so which one ?

[TonyO]

Aircraft is new build, you might be thinking of the re-engined AH9As...

[POL]

Anyone else thinking it looks like something you could build out of LEGO?

[Mike]

It's c/no is 462 and 1st flew on 12/11/09,so I'd say it's a new-build.

[garethbrum]

Quote from Lt Dave Lilly in a feature which will be published on GAR tomorrow:

We’ll be able to go faster, further and see more while we’re doing it, it’s going to be fantastic.”

Dave is about to join 700W NAS - The Wildcat Fielding Squadron.

[TonyO]

I also hear it's been named the SIDRAT, opposite of TARDIS because its smaller on the inside than it looks on the outside...

[Doughnut]

Certainly not a pretty aircraft, and by the time MOD, scab on the operational kit such as flares, FLIR and weapons, its going to look worst. As this is a new type some specification details are still not known but I have to ask why Westland think it was necessary to 're-invent the wheel' ? At 6.0 tonne does the aircraft offer anymore than the existing AW139, or its bigger brother the AW149 (which also flew for the first time last week) Whilst jobs at Yeovil are important, might the MOD now suffer from development budget over runs and time lag into service entry ? Looking at the spec's the AW159 appears to be 6.0 tonne weight, 13m rotor dia, 184mph and range of 420 mile, no details of crew numbers or cargo capacity, the AW139 is 6.4 tonne, 14m rotor dia, 193mph and 573 mile range with 15 passengers. More importantly it is in production and presumably could have been ordered and in service quicker, without the budget over run risk inherent with a completely new type.

[Garysb]

Looks like a NH 90 with 15 foot chopped out

Gary

[Doughnut]

Looks like a NH 90 with 15 foot chopped out

Gary

I did consider the NH90 when I posted earlier, two reasons I did not are :-
1) it is not a Westland Agusta project, at least the AW139 would be built at Yeovil with no problems if ordered.
2) the NH90 is much bigger and designed to do something different to what the Army / Royal Navy want, think its in the 10.0 Tonne range with a 16m rotor.

[garethbrum]

A little more info here - GAR's interview with Dave Lilly who is going to be working on bringing the aircraft in to RN service:

http://www.globalaviationresource.com/r ... ildcat.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RichC]

The HMA8 is tiny inside especially when the winch is sitting inside.
I hope it has more room than that!