Denel Aviation Has Started Final Assembly Of The SAAF A109 Light Utility Helicopter
Date: 17 February 2003
AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica and GKN company, announced that the final assembly of the first Agusta A109 Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) airframe for the South African Air Force, has started in South Africa at the Denel Aviation facilities. Denel Aviation, an aerospace division of Denel (Pty) Ltd, has been granted a license to manufacture 25 of the 30 A109 aircraft ordered by the South African Air Force.
The AgustaWestland built A109 LUH demonstrator will start flight trails in South Africa during February 2003 with a view to test aircraft performance and modifications made for the harsh Southern African conditions. The trails and operation of the aircraft will be conducted from the Wonderboom Airport, situated north of Pretoria, South Africa.
The Denel Group, other than being the manufacturer of the A109 LUH for the South African Air Force requirement, was given the right to produce and support the A109 LUH, the A109 Power and the A119 Koala helicopters, by AgustaWestland. This agreement includes marketing in certain countries around the world. The first effect of this agreement is the Denel Group involvement in the airframe manufacturing for 20 Agusta A109 LUH helicopters ordered by the Swedish Air Force.
In addition to Denel (Pty) Ltd and its other divisions such as Denel Aviation and Cumulus, AgustaWestland also involved numerous other defense and aerospace companies such as Aeroflo, Avitronics, Chelton Tellumat, Grinaker Electronic Systems, African Defense Systems, Futuristic Business Solutions and AMS in order to fulfill the requirements of the South African Air Force and other programs.
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