Rome, 13 December 2016 – Leonardo-Finmeccanica delivered the first two of a total four ATR 72MPs to the Italian Air Force. Designated P-72A by the Italian Air Force, the aircraft will replace the Air Force’s obsolete Breguet Atlantic.
Mauro Moretti, Leonardo’s Chief Executive Officer and General Manager said: “Security and environmental protection are both vitally important to our Country’s economy. As well as international trade passing through our coastal territory, we need to remain vigilant to illegal trafficking and migration flows. Therefore, in order to protect our economic strength and national security we have provided the ATR 72MP, which comes equipped with Leonardo’s latest security and surveillance systems.”
The latest version of the contract, signed in 2014, envisages the delivery of logistic support services, in addition to the supply of four ATR 72MP platforms, which will be completed by 2017.
The aircraft, developed and produced by Leonardo using the ATR 72-600 turboprop as a base, can act in a number of roles including maritime patrol for the search and identification of surface vessels, SAR (search and rescue) missions, the prevention of narcotics trafficking, piracy, smuggling, territorial water security and monitoring and intervention in the event of environmental catastrophes.
The ATR 72MPs will be provided with the latest communication systems, able to transmit or receive information in real time to/from command and control centres either on the ground, in the air or at-sea, to ensure coordinated and effective operations. The aircraft will also be equipped with a self-protection system, fully integrated with the ATR 7MP’s mission system and avionics.
The aircraft will be able to fly missions lasting six and a half hours at ranges up to 200 nautical miles from its starting location.
Leonardo-Finmeccanica is among the top ten global players in Aerospace, Defence and Security and Italy’s main industrial company. As a single entity from January 2016, organised into business divisions (Helicopters; Aircraft; Aero-structures; Airborne & Space Systems; Land & Naval Defence Electronics; Defence Systems; Security & Information Systems), Leonardo-Finmeccanica operates in the most competitive international markets by leveraging its areas of technology and product leadership. Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), at 31 December 2015 Finmeccanica recorded consolidated revenues of 13 billion Euros and has a significant industrial presence in Italy, the UK and the U.S.
Note for the editors
The ATR 72MP is a multirole Maritime Patrol, Electronic Surveillance and C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence) aircraft, available at a very affordable price.
Main Roles
The ATR 72MP’s primary roles are: maritime patrol to search and identify surface vessels, command and control of other war-fighting assets in tactical scenarios, ELINT (ELectronic INTelligence, search and rescue (SAR), prevention of piracy, smuggling and narcotic trafficking and territorial water security. It can also carry personnel. The MP (maritime patrol) version shares many solutions which were developed for the ATR 72ASW developed by Leonardo for the Turkish Navy. With the MP, the systems specifically designed for Anti-Submarine Warfare have been replaced by a complete C4I systems suite incorporating multidatalink fully integrating Link 16 and Link11, Satcom Ku/Ka, VORTEX, VMF and Radar Classifier, in addition to ESM ELINT (Electronic Surveillance Measures – ELectronic INTelligence) capabilities.
The Leonardo ATOS mission system
The aircraft’s mission system, provided with four operator stations with high-definition 22” monitors and touch-screen control panels, is the last version of Leonardo’s Airborne Tactical Observation and Surveillance (ATOS) mission system. The aircraft has been designed with provisions to allow for future integration of additional sensors and components, which are mission-specific for Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) missions. The ATOS mission system is fully integrated with a militarized ATR-600 Glass Cockpit, (including, amongst other military functionalities, one TACAN, two SAASM VI INS/GPS and one IFF TX) and a radio management system that permits that 4 V/UHF and 2 HF Radios can be used and controlled by the mission system operators and also from the cockpit.
The mission system integrates three main sensors, the Star Safire HD electro-optical turret; the Leonardo Airborne and Space Systems’ Seaspray 7300 electronically-scanned array (AESA) surveillance radar and a self-protection suite based on Elettronica’s ELT800V2 ESM, providing the ATOS mission system with the capability to fully manage the tactical scenario with Radio Frequency tracks and enabling ELINT mission tasks.
Self-protection capabilities
The Self-Protection System suite, derived from the one that equips the C-27J Spartan battlefield airlifter, includes chaff & flare dispensers (CFD), missile and laser warning systems (MWS and LWS)) and a new RWR/ESM with ELINT and geolocalisation capabilities. The suite is integrated by a new DASS Management Computer and can be operated from the cockpit via a dedicated DASS display unit and DASS control panel. The configuration of the aircraft’s avionic systems also includes an Automatic Identification System (AIS), a C-SAR ASARS system, radio and satellite secure communications crypto devices, a V/UHF SICRAL satellite radio. The ATR 72MP system fully meets the most stringent requirements for hardware and
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