Italian Navy Discussions and Updates

[Sandhi Yudha]

AW609 Tiltrotor Aircraft Completes First Ship Trial Campaign with Italian Navy - Naval News

The AW609 tiltrotor programme set another major industry capability milestone after its first successful ship trial.

www.navalnews.com

AW609 Tiltrotor conduct first trial aboard Cavour. So far Leonardo seems aim two functions for this Tiltrotor, Cargo transport and Maritime Surveillance (MPA). Perhaps in the later function, ASW and ASuW can also be added.

Who knows, this can turn out to be more affordable lighter alternative for V-22.

The AW609 is very suitable to replace some AB212s for many roles, but it has a higher price tag than the modern versions of the Bell 412 and the Marina Militare already has some large amounts of NH90s and EH101s. So maybe they will only order small amounts of the AW609 the coming 10 years.

 

[SolarisKenzo]

The AW609, as I had the opportunity to see it in a test mission, has no cargo capability whatsoever.
The inside is very "VIP transport" focused.

It could be to useful to move SOF teams or officers around, or to serve as a small flying "office", but that's really it.