YEOVIL, England, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- AgustaWestland's second AW159 multi-role military helicopter has completed its maiden flight at the company's facility in Yeovil, England.
The aircraft, designated TI2, is the second of three test aircraft that will complete a 600-hour integrated flight test program.
Aircraft TI1 continues to perform air vehicle and flight envelope testing while TI2 will undertake the flight testing of the aircraft's core and mission avionics systems, the systems and software having already been developed and tested on AgustaWestland's Full Systems Integration Rig.
AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italy's Finmeccanica, has established a new AW159 production facility at its Yeovil plant that features a pulse line production system to bring significant efficiencies to the final assembly process.
The company said the maiden flight of the second AW159 -- known as Lynx Wildcat in U.K. military service -- marks another milestone in the development of the new 6-ton, multi-role military helicopter, 62 of which have been ordered by the U.K. Ministry of Defense. The first aircraft will be delivered at the end of 2011 with the aircraft becoming fully operational with the British army in 2014 and the British navy in 2015.
The AW159 is powered by two new generation CTS800 engines. Cockpits include a fully integrated display system utilizing four 10x8-inch primary displays.
Sensors include a nose mounted IR/TV imager with built in laser designator and for the maritime variant the Selex Galileo 7400E 360-degree active array radar.
