AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that two of its employees have been awarded Afghanistan Campaign Medals during a recent ceremony held at AgustaWestland’s Yeovil facility. Captain Andy Lison RN, the UK MoD’s Merlin Project Team Leader, presented the medals to Mike Sheppard from the Field Service Department and Chris Ferguson from the Integrated Merlin Operational Support (IMOS) On-Site Support Team.

Mike and Chris were deployed to Afghanistan between December 2009 and February 2010 in support of the Royal Air Force’s AW101 Merlin Mk3 initial entry into the Afghan theatre of operations. They were based at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province and provided a range of technical advice and assisted in the installation of ballistic protection modifications AgustaWestland had rapidly developed under an Urgent Operational Requirement.

In making the presentation Captain Lison paid tribute to the contributions made by Mike and Chris in ensuring the success of Merlin in Afghanistan, noting that since its initial deployment in December 2009 the aircraft had gone from strength to strength and continues to deliver critical capability to UK forces engaged in the conflict.