With four of its eventual fleet of six AgustaWestland AW139 utility helicopters having been delivered since last August, this year’s Royal International Air Tattoo represented the first opportunity for the Irish Air Corps to exhibit its new aircraft in the UK, although another of the service’s regular visitors of recent years was unable to make an appearance.
Dublin’s second AW139 is on static display at RIAT, having flown in from Baldonnel airbase on 13 July. The air corps’ fourth aircraft was handed over in May, and will be followed by another two early next year under a contract option worth €26 million ($35.4 million) confirmed early this year.
Ireland was meanwhile unable to send one of its EADS Casa CN-235 maritime patrol aircraft to the show due to the high operational commitments faced by its lone operational example, an air corps source says. The service’s other aircraft is now at EADS Casa’s Seville plant in southern Spain where it is undergoing an extensive radar and mission systems upgrade.