AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat

The AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat, first known as the Future Lynx and then the Lynx Wildcat, is a British-Italian military helicopter developed by AgustaWestland, later part of Leonardo, as an improved successor to the Westland Super Lynx. The project began in the early 2000s to replace the Lynx helicopters of the Royal Navy and the British Army, after refurbishing the old airframes proved uneconomical. The Wildcat is built from about 95 percent new components, with a glass cockpit, a redesigned tail rotor and nose, a composite tailboom and two LHTEC CTS800 turboshaft engines. A contract worth 1 billion pounds for 70 aircraft was signed in 2006 and the order was cut to 62 in 2008. The first flight was at Yeovil on 12 November 2009. The Army Air Corps version entered service on 29 August 2014, and the Royal Navy HMA2 began its first deployment at sea in March 2015. The Republic of Korea Navy and the Philippine Navy also operate it.