As I understand it, the AW189 is the civil variant of the military AW149 (this being a stretched AW139) and like the AW139, the fuselage is being built by PZL-Świdnik in Poland, so not sure as to which part in percentage terms of AW’s claim that “The AW189 Search and Rescue variant is being designed, developed and built in the UK” reflects the truth?
To quote AW’s CEO Bruno Spagnolini. “Only full final assembly of SAR-configured AW189s will be established in the UK should the aircraft be selected for the Long SAR requirement.”
Just what does ‘full final assembly’ actually mean, SAR completions and a lick of paint perhaps?