The government of Pakistan this week ordered an unspecified number of additional AW139 helicopters from Italy’s Leonardo. The intermediate twin helicopters will be used for utility and transport operations, with deliveries expected to start in mid-2017.
The order announced on February 20 follows an initial August 2016 contract under which Pakistan bought another unspecified number of AW139s equipped for various search-and-rescue and medical evacuation missions. To date, Leonardo has sold more than 970 AW139s to some 240 customers in more than 70 countries and 830 of these aircraft are in service today. Other government customers include Algeria, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Estonia, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Panama, Qatar, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the UK.