AgustaWestland was honored this week with two prestigious awards at the American Helicopter Society International Forum that reinforce the company’s commitment to substantial research and development and emphasis on expanding the possibilities of rotorcraft design and flight.

Accepting an AHS Technical Fellowship was Dr. James Wang, Vice President of Research and Development, for “career-based accomplishments towards the goals and objectives of the vertical flight technical community that constitute an outstanding technical achievement.”

Presented with the Grover Bell award for the individual or organization that has fostered and encouraged research and experimentation in helicopter development was AgustaWestland’sProjectZero team, also led by Dr. James Wang. The technology demonstrator is completely electric powered; designed to hover like a helicopter and convert to a fixed wing aircraft in forward flight thanks to its two integrated rotors which can be tilted through more than 90 degrees.

The team successfully designed, built, and flew a highly innovative, one-ton, all-electric vertical lift aircraft in six months that established many world firsts, and worked as a lean and highly agile integrated team of 16 companies across three continents. The team philosophy is – If it can be dreamt, it can be built.

The Company is proud of the diligent work completed by a team that pushed the engineering and design envelope as it works on future rotorcraft developments that encompass some of the next-generation technologies integrated into the all-electric Project Zero.

Winners of this year’s awards were recognized at the 70thAnnual Grand Awards Banquet on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 during AHS International’s 70th Annual Forum & Technology Display at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, Québec, Canada.