Leonardo's Mangusta Successor Progresses Through Flight Testing

Forty years after developing Europe’s first dedicated attack helicopter, the AW129 Mangusta, Leonardo is flight-testing its successor.

The 8.3-metric-ton, twin-engine AW249—christened the AH-249A Fenice (Italian for “phoenix”) by its Italian Army launch customer—is almost twice the weight of its predecessor and will be equipped, the manufacturer says, for a very different kind of battlefield.

Just as development of the then-Agusta-built Mangusta helped prepare the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer to produce a new generation of dual-use utility helicopters that have taken the commercial medium-helicopter market by storm, Leonardo officials say work on the clean-sheet AW249 will help the company prepare for aircraft that could emerge from NATO’s Next-Generation Rotorcraft Capability project and beyond.

• AW249s are set to enter Italian Army service in 2027
• Two helicopters are in flight tests
• Leonardo envisages using artificial intelligence to reduce workload
• The AW249 supply chain is 80% European

Unlike the Cold War-era Mangusta, which was designed as a missile-carrying rotary-wing tank destroyer and later adapted to combat counterinsurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq, the AW249 design aligns with the Italian Army’s new doctrine of fighting near-peer adversaries in a multidomain anti-access/area-denial environment, Alessandro Alfonso, Leonardo Helicopters’ AW249 program manager, tells Aviation Week.

“This helicopter needs to operate in congested, contested, connected and confused environments,” Alfonso says. “So we have considered the design and integration of solutions in the AW249 architecture that allow interconnectivity, interoperability and multidomain operations integration from the beginning.”

Formally unveiling the AW249 at the Eurosatory defense show in Paris in June, Italian Army Chief of Staff Gen. Carmine Masiello described it as a “system and not just a helicopter.”

Perhaps it is no wonder, then, that the Italian Army has kept the AW249 under a thick veil since first contracting its development through the New Exploration and Escort Helicopter program in 2017. That contract called for the development and production of an initial four AW249s, paving the way for army batch orders for up to 48 helicopters; first deliveries are planned for 2027. Production will take place at Leonardo Helicopters’ main facilities in Vergiate, Italy, alongside its commercial offerings.

Following a first flight in August 2022, two AW249s are now supporting flight testing, with some 500 flight hr. completed. Another development aircraft is scheduled to fly before year-end, and a fourth is set to fly in early 2025.

The first aircraft to fly was the third prototype—which happened to be ready first. Each prototype has a specific development scope. Only in final production aircraft will the full aircraft systems be installed and realized.

Nonetheless, the AW249 has already completed hot-and-high trials in Spain and Southern Italy and fired unguided rockets. It recently participated in an Italian Army demonstration in the Alps, too.

At the heart of the helicopter’s requirements is a need to outperform the Mangusta in all areas—most notably range, payload, speed and survivability. Doing so required a “larger, heavier aircraft,” Alfonso says.

Development of the AW249 has been focused around six key pillars: interoperability with allies, maneuverability, lethality, weapons precision, sustainability and supportability.

To keep costs down and reduce developmental risk, Leonardo made use of the proven AW149 dynamic system, including the main gearbox, tail-rotor system and five-blade main rotor system. Because the dynamic system’s 50-min. run-dry capability—that is, without oil—had already been demonstrated, there was no need for an iron bird to test it. The company did, however, make minor improvements to the gearbox to enhance reliability and aircraft survivability.

Engineers then wrapped a new airframe around the dynamic system. As with other Western attack helicopters, Leonardo has opted for a tandem seating configuration in a long, narrow fuselage, continuing the design trend started by Bell’s AH-1 Cobra.

Two GE Aerospace (GE) CT7-8E6 turboshafts mounted high on the rear fuselage provide some 2,500 shp and are assembled by GE-owned Avio Aero in Italy. The turboshafts have been modified for improved one-engine-inoperative and maximum continuous power performance. The Italian Army selected the engine in part for the commonality with other types in its inventory, including the NHIndustries NH90 transport helicopter. Still, Leonardo does not discount the potential of integrating another engine, particularly after having invested in the certification of the Safran Aneto-powered AW149/AW189. The helicopter also has a Safran Power Units (Microturbo) auxiliary power unit.

The AW249’s stub wings feature four hard points—two on each wing—for guided missiles and rocket pods. The wings are plumbed for external fuel tanks to supplement the internal fuel load of 1,800 kg (4,000 lb.). Air-to-air missiles can be mounted on the stub wingtips.

Sponsons along the lower fuselage hold many of the avionics systems as well as the ammunition for the helicopter’s chin-mounted 20mm M197 gun. The AW249 can carry 500 rounds of ammunition for the gun, 200 more than the Mangusta.

The M197 was retained from the Mangusta, as was the Rafael Spike missile system. The AW249 may be able to carry as many as 16 Spike-ERs due to the helicopter’s increased payload capacity. The AW249 could carry longer-range versions of the weapon as well, which would increase the aircraft’s standoff capabilities.

But Alfonso says the AW249’s major technological improvements will be under the skin.

In the cockpit, Leonardo has opted for 10-in.-wide mission information displays for both the pilot and gunner. Lateral displays on both sides show engine data and master caution warnings. The helicopter can be flown from both cockpits, but the gunner’s flight control is a side stick cyclic whereas the pilot’s cyclic is situated between the legs. The gunner’s position features a game-console-like controller for the optical sighting system.

Each crewmember wears an advanced helmet-mounted sight that stereoscopically presents on the visor relevant data fused from night vision, electro-optical targeting, obstacle warning systems and flight data. The setup improves crew situational awareness and operational safety in degraded visual environments. Development of this system is in progress, but Leonardo has not divulged the identity of the suppliers. Neither has it identified suppliers of the planned optical-targeting system to be mounted on the nose, like on Boeing’s AH-64 Apache and Bell’s AH-1Z Viper.

Leonardo also plans to install an electronic warfare and defensive aids system that fuses data from radar, missile, laser and hostile fire indicators. This system would defend the aircraft using a directed infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) system mounted on a fairing under the rear fuselage near dispensers for chaff and flares. Survivability is also embedded into the airframe, and redundant systems are spread out to reduce vulnerability to enemy fire. Maneuverability was another key requirement contributing to the overall survivability of the platform.

“Ballistic protection is the last solution for us,” Alfonso says. “We will use it to protect the crew, but otherwise we are using a combination of redundancy, systems separation and dedicated tests on some critical components to demonstrate the damage tolerance as well as other solutions to reduce the exposure to ballistic damage.”

The AW249’s key enhancements are in the avionics suite and its embedded battle management and communications system. Leonardo has developed an open-architecture avionics suite that Alfonso says will allow extra capabilities to be added quickly without major modifications. The system can also pave the way for a “significant amount of industrial collaboration,” should export customers want to embed tailored options, Alfonso notes.

The AW249 is designed to be able to send and receive voice and data within and beyond visual line of sight, connect with data links, including the NATO-standard Link 16, and downlink full-motion video to ground troops. In addition, the helicopter has the capability to connect through a crewed-uncrewed teaming system to take control of the Italian Army’s tactical uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and their payloads as well as those of the Italian Air Force’s General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers.

A battle management system that allows the crew to work with various platforms around the battlefield will be integrated into the human-machine interface (HMI), the development of which has been carried out in conjunction with the Italian Army. As part of the HMI development, the army installed heat cameras in the AW129 simulator in Viterbo, allowing engineers to understand which tasks stressed crews the most and how to improve the HMI to help them.

Leonardo envisages wider use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the rotorcraft’s avionics. The helicopter-maker is experimenting with an AI-enabled feature called the Navigation Aid Tunnel, which will use the aircraft’s sensors and electronic warfare suite to designate a flightpath for the crew to avoid adversary threats or geographic obstacles.

The manufacturer plans to use AI to maintain the helicopter and aims to offer predictive, on-condition maintenance once the AW249 is in service. Health and usage monitoring systems are already scooping up data to improve engineers’ understanding of the behavior of onboard components.

The inclusion of AI in the AW249 is one of the drivers for the growth headroom Leonardo has factored into its design. Because of the computing capability onboard, engineers also have included a powerful environmental control system to keep the pilots and electronic systems cool in the heat of the Italian summer. Such use of AI aligns with Leonardo’s outlook on the future of its products. CEO Roberto Cingolani stated in March that AI algorithms, cloud-computing networks and electronic systems were “the glue” at the heart of all the company’s products (AW&ST Mar. 25-April 7).

Although the AW249 is still in flight testing, the Italian Army has begun defining a road map of additional features it would like to add, partly prompted by the evolving security situation, including the Russia-Ukraine war. Among them: an anti-UAS capability and the ability to guide long-range ammunitions, such as artillery rounds and rockets, and to control air-launched effects and loitering munitions.

“The Italian Army is taking a new approach,” Alfonso explains. “This is not just about destruction of the enemy but also about creating dilemmas and making the adversary lose time.”

Leonardo has high hopes for AW249 exports: Although the company sold the Mangusta only to Turkey, Ankara has since exported the helicopter to several countries, including Nigeria and the Philippines.

Now that the Airbus Tiger is out of production and European leaders are calling for greater defense sovereignty and less reliance on the U.S., Leonardo believes the AW249 can find a niche as the only European attack helicopter available for export—and arriving just in time to meet requirements in several countries. The manufacturer has identified markets in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America where the helicopter will have export appeal, but it faces increasingly stiff competition, particularly from the U.S.-made Apache and Viper.

“We’re confident the AW249’s characteristics and possibilities represent a highly competitive value proposition also for the international market,” Leonardo Co-General Manager Lorenzo Mariani said at Eurosatory in June.