Agusta SpA, an AgustaWestland Company, and South Africa's Denel Group, have signed an agreement for license production and marketing of the Agusta A109 LUH, the A109 Power and the A119 Koala helicopters in South Africa. AgustaWestland is 50% owned by each Finmeccanica of Italy and GKN of the UK.
The agreement signed recently in Cascina Costa, Agusta's headquarters in Italy, between Denel's Group Executive Director (Aerospace), Mr Hans Pretorius, and Mr Amedeo Caporaletti, AgustaWestland CEO, allows Denel to enter the civil helicopter market in a meaningful way. The helicopters will be built at Denel Aviation's manufacturing facilities in Kempton Park, South Africa.
The license production agreement allows Denel to both manufacture and market the A109 and A119 Koala helicopters in specified countries around the world, including South East Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa.
"The potential worldwide market could be as high as 30 of these helicopters per year," explains Denel CEO Flip Botha. "This translates into potential annual sales of around US$90 million in which South Africa and Denel will share with Agusta. More importantly, this agreement will ensure retention of jobs and skills in South Africa, as well as the transfer of sophisticated aerospace technology from Agusta. "
The Agusta and Denel partnership dates back to the Product Supply Agreement for the A109 Light Utility Helicopter programme signed in 1999. The agreement provides for a phased multiple year programme for the manufacturing of the complete A109 LUH airframe and systems installation in South Africa. Denel will be involved in the integration of subsystems, manufacture, final assembly, customisation engineering and flight-testing of the SAAF's helicopters.
"We are already contracted by Agusta to manufacture 25 of the 30 helicopters for the South African Air Force," says Flip Botha. "A team of South African technicians and engineers from Denel are being trained at the Agusta facilities in Italy for this purpose. The first five helicopters will be built in Italy."
South Africa's industrial participation in the A109 LUH programme stands to be expanded soon with a contract on Denel to build the airframes of the 20 Agusta A109 Military helicopters ordered by FMV (Sweden's procurement agency). The Swedish contract represents another significant milestone in the Agusta Defence Industrial Participation (DIP) programme linked to South Africa's decision to procure the A109 LUH helicopters.
With the most recent agreement (for license production), Denel will also enter Agusta's lucrative spares market for these helicopter models on a worldwide basis.
"The A109 and A119 Koala have so much production commonality, that Denel will be able to supply spares to us on a continuous basis as they manufacture the helicopters for the SAAF and other clients," explains Bruno Spagnolini, AgustaWestland's Government Sales Rest of the World Director. "We have already identified clients - and potential clients - in Africa and elsewhere, to whom we would supply both helicopters and spares from this South African base."
"Denel has developed outstanding capabilities in aerospace technologies and Agusta is looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial collaboration, not only on the LUH program but also in the global commercial market," says Mr Spagnolini.
In addition to the Denel contract, Agusta has involved several defence and aerospace-related companies like Tellumat, Denel Cumulus (part of Kentron), Avitronics, FBS and African Defence Systems (ADS), to expand its strategic collaboration with South African industry.
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Agusta And Denel Sign License Production Agreement
