7-Mar-2013 Source: AgustaWestland
AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, and Kanematsu Corporation are pleased to announce they have been awarded a contract by the Japan National Police Agency (JNPA) to supply a GrandNew law enforcement light twin helicopter which will be operated in Kawagawa prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan.
The order brings to three the number of GrandNew helicopters ordered by the Japan National Police Agency as part of their plan to modernise its fleet. The AgustaWestland GrandNew light twin helicopter features the latest generation avionics, high performance and safety, a large cabin and payload capability that was previously only available with intermediate category helicopters, whilst retaining attractive light twin category economics.
The GrandNew represents a step change in capability for the JNPA with its state-of-the-art digital avionics for single/dual pilot Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operation and a four-axis dual duplex digital autopilot coupled with a Flight Director. In addition the helicopter is equipped with the Chelton Flight Systems’ Flight-Logic Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS), Synthetic Vision and Highway In the Sky (HITS) embedded functions to deliver ultimate situational awareness and groundbreaking automated flight management capabilities. The new glass-cockpit with a redesigned layout provides excellent visibility and an ergonomic working space for the pilots. A new Radio Management System (RMS) permits the integrated management of radio communication and navigation systems of the helicopter while the Integrated Display System (IDS) provides aircraft/engine data monitoring, crew alert and maintenance data pages.
Orders for almost 320 helicopters from the Grand series have been placed by nearly 200 customers in almost 40 countries worldwide, to perform many tasks including VIP/corporate and passenger transport, EMS, SAR, electronic newsgathering, law enforcement, harbour pilot shuttle, maritime patrol and water pollution monitoring.