The Philippine Air Force and the Philippine Navy commissioned and operates a number of AW109E Power light, twin engine helicopters. AugustaWestland of Italy is the manufacturer of the helicopter.
In the Philippine Air Force, the AW109E helicopters are operated by PAF's 15th Strike Wing in missions such as close-air support, armed air reconnaissance, forward air control and armed escort. For the Philippine Navy, it is deployed on the Gregorio Del Pilar class frigates and the Tarlac class landing platform dock.
The AW109E Power is suitable for different missions such as Search and Rescue (SAR), Law enforcement and armed escort, air ambulance and coast guard, surveillance and boarder patrol, transport, training platform and emergency medical evacuation (MEDIVAC).
In November 2013, AugustWestland won the contract worth 3.4 billion pesos (US Dollar 77 million) for the supply of eight AW109E Power helicopters to the Philippine Air Force. The first two helicopters were delivered in December 2014 and completed in December 2015.
In March 2013, the Philippine Navy signed a contract for three AW109 Power maritime helicopter from AugustaWestland with an option for an additional of two more helicopter. The primary role of the helicopter are for Search and Rescue (SAR), maritime security, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) protection and surface surveillance.
The Features and Design of the AW109E Power Helicopter
The AW109E Power helicopter has an air-frame that made up of light weight aluminium alloys. It has four bladed main rotor wing with long tail boom and two bladed tail rotor. It also has tricycle landing gear for easy mobilization on the ground and an energy absorbing struts allowing it for a safe landing on rough and rugged terrain.
It has a length of 13.4 meters, a width of 7.8 meters and height of 3.5 meters. The main rotor has a diameter of 11 meters while the tail rotor has 1.94 meters.
The helicopter can be operated up to two pilots and it can accommodate up to seven passenger. The cockpit can be accessed through pilot and co-pilot doors in each side and a windows fitted with slider. The wide cabin has a volume of 3.4 cubic meters which makes it easily to configured on various missions. The cabin also has two large sliding doors with double-layered ballistic windows. The baggage compartment has a maximum volume of 2.3 cubic meters to house different mission loads.
Inside the cabin has a soundproofing, air heat bleeder and an air conditioning to facilitate comfort for the passengers.
For various missions, the helicopter can be fitted with cargo hook, rescue hoist, rappelling hooks, engine air particle separator, retractable light, Bambi bucket, pulsed chip detectors and external loudspeakers.
The Night Vision Goggle-compatible, digital and glass cockpit has equipped with six liquid crystal display (LCD) instrument to provide the pilot and co-pilot the flight path information, navigation and targeting and an enhanced situational awareness during day and night operations.
The helicopter avionics are three-axis duplex automatic flight control (AFCS) weather radar, gyrocompass, transponder radar altimeter, navigation and communication system, global positioning system (GPS), instrument flight rules (IFR) and moving map.
The AW109E Power is equipped with forward looking infrared radar (FLIR) / low light television (LLTV) camera, cockpit voice and flight data recorder, tactical radios, emergency locator transmitter (ELT), stormscope and the automatic direction finder (ADF).
Light Armaments and Safety Features
The AW109E Power helicopter is armed with caliber 50 machine guns and unguided rockets for close air support (CAS) operation and Surveillance and Reconnaisance missions. The safety features are the dual electrical systems, rotor brake system, emergency flotation, reinforced windshield a separated fuel system, snow skis kit / slump protection pads kit, wire strike protection systems, fire extinguishers and dual hydraulic boost. The engines and transmissions has redundant lubrication and cooling systems. It also fitted with a vibration dampers to minimized vibration inside the cabin.
Engine Performance
The engine of the AW109E Power helicopter composed of two Pratt & Whitney PW206C of Canada which is controlled with the full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system. It has a maximum take-off weight of 3,000 kilograms and has three variant of fuel system installed such as 605l three-cell, 699l four cell and 835l five cell. The maximum cruising speed is 285 kilometers per hour up to 311 kilometers per hour. It has a climb rate of 9.8 meters per second and can reach a service ceiling of 5,974 meters even on a single engine.
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