Special ceremony held at Agusta's Vergiate facility on October, 25, 2002. Italian Army Chief of Staff, Gen.Gianfranco Ottogalli, was accompanied at the ceremony by Ing. Amedeo Caporaletti, Agusta SpA President.
In 1999 the Italian Army awarded a contract to Agusta, an AgustaWestland company, for the production of the last batch of 15 A129s in the new Combat (CBT) configuration, to meet the Italian Army's new requirements as dictated by the new international scenarios.
The new A129 CBT includes a 20mm gun turret, Stinger air-to-air missiles, avionics and airframe upgrades including a five blade main rotor and increased mission weight.
The A129 was originally designed to comply with the requirements set by the Italian MoD for day/night, all weather anti-tank and scout roles, with a built-in growth capability for further weapons and systems development.
At the end of last year, the Italian Army awarded a contract to Agusta to also retrofit the other 45 A129s currently in service to the CBT configuration. All the A129s will be assembled and upgraded at Vergiate plant in Italy.