Leonardo is presenting the AW109 Trekker at Land Forces 2018 as a fully commercial, off the shelf solution to the Australian Defence Force needs for Land 2097, Phase 4 Special Operations Rotary Wing Capability. The AW109 Trekker is readily deployable by C17 transport aircraft, requiring less than 30 minutes preparation for embarkation on the C17.

The AW109 Trekker shares the same DNA as the popular and successful AW109 family of helicopters with more than 1100 units in service worldwide today and over 3.2 million flight hours logged. The AW109s have demonstrated highly successful in the world military market with operators based in various nations in Europe, Asia and Africa to perform a range of missions including utility, MEDEVAC, armed reconnaissance, close support, homeland security, counterpiracy, maritime surveillance, and ship-based operations. This is a proven, reliable and truly low risk airborne solution. It incorporates state of the art glass cockpit and offers the highest power to weight ratio and payload in its class making it a superior, immediately available solution capable of meeting the stringent demands of the Australian Army Special Forces.

The AW109 Trekker is equipped with skid landing gear and a state-of-the-art fully integrated glass cockpit optimised to provide pilots with need-to-know information to reduce workload while operating in challenging environments and/or demanding weather conditions. The AW109 Trekker retains the same characteristics of unsurpassed speed, excellent performance and flying qualities, high manoeuvrability, robustness, advanced navigation capabilities and high inherent safety and survivability as the other newer generation light twin helicopters produced by Leonardo. Power is provided by two highly proven and reliable FADEC equipped Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207C turbine engines.

The spacious cabin, the same size as the AW109 Grand/GrandNew, accommodates six troops or one stretcher with four medical attendants or two stretchers and two medical attendants. Capable of single pilot operation, an additional passenger can be carried in the cockpit if required. The AW109 Trekker incorporates many safety features including a cocoon-type airframe; crash resistant fuel system, crew and passengers seats, full Cat. A / Class 1 performance in hot environments and a 30 minute ‘run-dry’ main gear box.

The aircraft is designed with a modular configuration approach in order to meet different applications, single pilot VFR or IFR. For Special Operations, Leonardo proposes proven on-board solutions including cargo hook, external rescue hoist, rappelling, searchlight, FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red) cameras, video downlinks, LZ threat suppression, Night Vision, high ballistic tolerance and emergency floatation as well as a modular interior layout for operational flexibility.

Leonardo’s Customer Support & Training Global Network ensures AW109 Trekker superior operational readiness. In-country avionics maintenance and dynamic components support such as the local Main Rotor Transmission Repair and Overhaul facility (MROF) currently being established in Australia by Leonardo, will further enhance flight availability. No longer will critical components lie in huge store stocks or have to be shipped overseas to the OEMs every time. Leonardo ensures No-Fault-Founds and first level maintenance can be performed alongside the AW109 Trekkers ensuring the shortest turn-around times and operational readiness. Orders for over 60 AW109 Trekkers have been placed worldwide.