U.S. Navy awards contract to Leonardo for new TH-73A training helicopters

The Department of Defense and Leonardo announced on Monday an agreement worth $176.5 million for the production of TH-73A helicopters in support of the Advanced Helicopter Training System (AHTS) program.

Leonardo, through AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corp., has been awarded a firm-fixed-price contract valued at $176,47 million for the production and delivery of 32 TH-73A helicopters, initial spares, support and dedicated equipment, and specific pilot and maintenance training services. This contract, as Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds, was competitively procured via a request for proposal of various offers.

Work will be performed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (87%); Mineral Wells, Texas (5%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (8%), and is expected to be completed in October 2021.

Alessandro Profumo, Chief Executive Officer Leonardo said, “On the cusp of celebrating nearly 40 years of operating in Philadelphia, Leonardo is thrilled the U.S. Navy has selected our TH-119-based offer and us as a local and long term partner. We are proud to be a core contributor to the future of U.S. defense.”

Gian Piero Cutillo, Managing Director of Leonardo Helicopters added, “Today’s brilliant news is a ringing endorsement for our solutions setting new industry standards for training. We are committed to working with the U.S. Navy to ensure future pilots meet all evolving service requirements.”

William Hunt, Managing Director of Leonardo Helicopters Philadelphia said, “Our plan since day one has been to offer the U.S. Navy the training capabilities they asked for, without compromise. We are honored to deliver on that promise, build the new fleet in Philadelphia and maintain it from Milton, Florida.”

The new helicopter will meet advanced rotary wing and intermediate tilt-rotor training requirements for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard through 2050. The TH-73A will be manufactured in United States with assembly taking place, through FAA Airworthiness certification, in the contractor’s FAA Part 21 facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In addition to the TH-73A, the contract includes initial spares, peculiar support equipment, flyaway kits, hoists, sling loads, data in excess of Commercial Form Fit Function (FFF) / Operations Maintenance Instructional Training (OMIT) Data, as well as ancillary instructor pilot & maintenance personnel training. The award is the culmination of a competitive source selection process supported by personnel from the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA).

“The new Leonardo TH-73A helicopters are the cornerstone of AHTS, which is the planned replacement to address the capability and capacity gaps of the current aging TH-57 Sea Ranger helicopter training platform,” said Capt. Todd St. Laurent, Naval Undergraduate Flight Training Systems (PMA-273) Program Manager. “The TH-73A will provide a modern helicopter training platform that will serve rotary and tiltrotor training requirements into the foreseeable future. These new helicopters will ensure the Navy has capacity to train several hundred aviation students per year at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field in Milton, Florida.” PMA-273, at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, oversees AHTS.