British Army AW159 ZZ399 Lynx Wildcat at Yeovil on 2nd September 2011 (Photo: Rich Pittman)
The Wildcat programme was developed from the
Future Lynx project which originated in two 2002 when studies were made to determine the suitability of a derivative of the Super Lynx 300 to replace the existing Lynx helicopters of the Royal Navy and British Army. These requirements were known as the Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft (SCMR) and Battlefield Light Utility Helicopter (BLUH) programmes, respectively. The utility transport aspect of the BLUH requirement was subsequently de-emphasised and the programme renamed Battlefield Reconnaissance Helicopter (BRH).
Both Army and Navy variants are based on a common marinised airframe with a wheeled undercarriage. The Wildcat is powered by two 1362 shp LHTEC CTS800-4N turboshaft engines, and features a new composite tailboom, tailplane, tail rotor, nose structure and avionics suite. The naval version is also equipped with a SELEX Galileo Seaspray 7000E active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.
On 24 April 2009 it was announced that the Future Lynx had been renamed
AW159 by AgustaWestland and would be known in British military service as the
Lynx Wildcat. The first Lynx Wildcat took the type's maiden flight from Yeovil on 12 November 2009 with initial deliveries of the type expected in 2011. The second AW159 first flew on 14 October 2010 and a third helicopter joined the flight testing programme on 19 November 2010.
The UK is to initially receive 34 AW159s for the British Army and 28 for the Royal Navy. The Army variant is to enter operational service in 2014 with the RN variant following in 2015.
The Royal Navy has commissioned its first Lynx Wildcat Fielding Squadron to be known as the 700W Naval Air Squadron (700W NAS). The Army Air Corps has formed the Wildcat Fielding Team. Both units located at RNAS Yeovilton.
Wildcat features:
Cruise: 155kts
Range: 420nm
Crew: 2
Passengers: 7
Armaments:
- Forward firing CRV7 rockets and machine guns
- Pintle mounted machine gun, e.g. FN MAG (Army) or Browning M2 (Navy)
- Air-to-Surface Missile system: Thales Lightweight Multi-Role Missile (LMM)
- Torpedoes and depth charges