Re: Helicópteros de combate
Publicado: Dom Jul 10, 2011 10:03 pm
Una cosa más respecto al Mangusta. Tanto holandeses, como británicos, italianos y nosotros mismos estuvimos a punto de adquirir una versión avanzada del mismo, el Tonal: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/ ... arch=TONAL
Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, and Spain are understood to be within a month of signing two agreements to proceed with development of the A.129 Tonal, an uprated mid-1990s version of the Agusta A.129 Mangusta attack helicopter.
Although Britain, Italy, and Spain now each have national government endorsement to sign the agreements, there is a slight delay on the part of the Dutch partners, but sources foresee all delays being cleared soon and the signing of the agreements in the next month.
Two agreements have been drawn up. The first covers the industrial workshare and the division of labour between the four partners— Agusta, Westland, Fokker, and Casa. The second agreement covers the establishment of a new totally independent, international company to manage the development programme.
Upon signing the agreements the four partners will start a two-year design study to explore the best ways of converting the Mangusta into an integrated anti-tank / anti-helicopter /scout helicopter. Currently the Mangusta is designed for dedicated anti-tank or scout work.
Under study will be the integration of Trigat third-generation anti-tank weapons under development by Britain, France, and West Germany. Consideration will also be given to the use of a single Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM.322 powerplant, as opposed to the Mangusta's twin Rolls-Royce Gem Mkl004s, 45 of which have been delivered this year to power the first 15 of 60 Mangustas on order for the Italian Army.
Since the partners decided to establish a new company to manage the Tonal project (Flight, May 24, page 2), plans have been changed slightly. Instead of establishing the company close to Agusta's Milan headquarters, it will now be based in Rome, close to the Italian Government procurement department, Costarmaerio, which will act as contract agency for the project.
The Tonal project was first raised by Westland and Agusta in May 1985. Later that year The Netherlands expressed interest in joining, and development studies were delayed while Dutch involvement was negotiated. Earlier this year Spain asked to join also. Agusta and Westland
will take a 38 per cent share in the project, Fokker a 19 per cent share, and Casa 5 per cent. No individual company will be project leader, but
Agusta will act as "first among equals", according to sources.
The four partners could require over 300 A.129 Tonals if pre-definition studies are a success.