Toll Helicopters Orders two more Leonardo AW139s Supporting the Australian Defence Force (ADF)

Leonardo announced on March 1 the expansion of its fleet of AW139 intermediate twin engine helicopters in Australia with an order for two aircraft by the leading helicopter operator Toll Helicopters (Toll).

The helicopters will supplement a fleet of three AW139s currently supporting a range of activities including pilot and aircrew officer training, utility support to ADF exercises and emergency response and disaster relief missions.

They will be delivered from Leonardo’s Vergiate final assembly line facility in Italy in the second half of 2023 and bring Toll’s fleet of AW139’s to a total of 12.

The newly purchased AW139s will support Toll Helicopters contract delivery across two programmes, a Crash Response Helicopter Service for the 1st Aviation Regiment in Darwin and the Army Commercial Helicopter programme currently based out of the 5th Aviation Regiment in Townsville.

The aircraft features searchlight, hoist, cargo hook, provisions for EO/IR equipment, to support a range of training and emergency response and disaster relief missions.

The AW139 has been sold by Leonardo in several State Government of the country to carry out a range of law enforcement, patrol and surveillance, maritime search and rescue missions and policing operations.

This helicopters is ideal for law enforcement, EMS and parapublic missions thanks to its capability, reliability and safety. A fleet of over 60 units performs all of these missions today in Australia in addition to energy support and transport.

With more than 1,130 units in service with over 280 customers in around 90 nations and over 3.6 million flight hours logged to date since its certification in 2004, the AW139 has also proven extremely successful among military operators worldwide for a wide range of roles including SAR, MEDEVAC, special operations, homeland security, slow mover intercept, advanced training, utility and transport.

Among its users in the Asian region include the Bangladesh air force, Indonesian search and rescue agency, Japanese police, fire department and coast guard, Malaysian air force, navy, police, coast guard and fire department, Pakistan army and air force, and the Thai army.

The AW139 delivers outstanding capabilities, technology and safety to meet stringent requirements from operators for tasks in harsh conditions to maximise effectiveness.

The type features state-of-the-art avionics with advanced navigation and collision avoidance systems to enhance situational awareness and reduce pilots’ workload, unmatched speed, power margins and overall performance, the widest cabin in its category featuring high modularity for rapid reconfiguration, a unique 60+ min run-dry capable main gear box for enhanced reliability and safety and up to 1,000 certified kits.

Toll Helicopters, headquartered in Brisbane, is an experienced provider of specialised mission-critical helicopter services and training for Government, Defence and the civil sector, specialising in helicopter emergency medical services, search and rescue operations, airborne law enforcement, training and logistics support.

Toll is a Leonardo Authorised Training Centre with the only OEM-approved AW139 Full Flight Simulator in the Oceania region. –shp/adj/mhi (pix: Leonardo in Australia)