AgustaWestland AW169M
in Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte

In September 2020, Austrian Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner announced order of 18 Leonardo AW169M Löwe (Lion) helicopters valued €300M (including training and logistics) to replace the Alouette III fleet. The AW169M won the contract against the Bell 429 and the Airbus H145M. Deliveries scheduled to start in 2022.

The AW169M is a 4,600kg/10,100lb class helicopter powered by two PW&C PW210A FADEC engines that can carry 10 troops or two stretchers thru sliding doors (1.60 m/5 ft 3 in) to enable rapid entry/egress. Two 12.7 or 7.62 mm machine guns can be mounted internally in the cabin and unguided rockets or air to ground missiles can be fitted externally.

The NVG compatible cockpit display has three large Active-Matrix Liquid Crystal Display (AMLCD) based on touch screen technology. The state-of-the-art navigation avionics suite uses an advanced digital dual-duplex 4-axis autopilot, incorporating Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) / Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) capabilities.

Final contract signed in January 2022 for 6 UH-169B trainers and 12 UH-169MA Advanced Multirole Variant with deliveries planned between 2022 and 2026.

First delivery took place in December 2022 with the announcement that a second batch of 18 options had been accepted, bringing the total to 36 helicopters.