Piaggio Aerospace awarded 46M euro orders by the Italian Ministry of Defence
Piaggio
Aerospace
has announced today two contracts with that the Italian Ministry of Defence worth a total of approximately 46 million
euros.
The first order, signed by the
Secretariat General of Defence and National Armament, is worth approximately 31
million euros and includes the “turn-key” development, realization and
installation of a technologically advanced P.180-based full flight simulator to
be placed at the Pratica di Mare military airport, near Rome. The device will be used mainly for the
training of the crews flying the P.180s operated by the Italian Air Force.
The ground-based training system will
encompass a “level D” full flight
simulator (the most advanced flight training device that accurately
reproduces the aircraft’s performance and forces when flying) based on a P.180
platform and a computer-based training suite for pilots. The order also
includes the building of the facility aimed at hosting the device, which will
also become the new headquarters of the Centro
Addestramento Equipaggi Multi Crew dell’Aeronautica Militare (the training
centre of the Air Force crews).
Finalizing the project - which
Piaggio Aerospace will be conducting in partnership with CAE, the Canadian
worldwide leading company in the field of simulation devices - will take about
three years. The final aim is to make other crews of the Armed Forces, as well
as State Corps and eventually other subjects, access the system, with terms to
be defined.
The second contract, which is worth
approximately 15 million euros and ready to be signed by the Italian Air Force,
further expands the 2019 agreement providing for the maintenance of the
Rolls-Royce V632-43 engines, better known as “Viper”. These propellers are
those fitting the MB339 aircraft, flown
- among the others - by the Italian Acrobatic Team “Frecce Tricolori”.
“The flight simulator that Piaggio is
going to build for the Italian Air Force will be the first specimen of that
kind in Europe and the second worldwide”, remarked Vincenzo Nicastro, Extraordinary Commissioner of Piaggio Aerospace: “This is a
long-term investment that proves once again the great value of the P.180, an
aircraft which has not expressed its full business potential yet, that will
surely be exploited by the new owner of the Company. On the other hand, the
extension of the agreement on Viper engines, went on Mr Nicastro, “represents
the real acknowledgement of Piaggio Aerospace’s proven maintenance skills.
Indeed, our Company is the only one certified and licensed by Rolls-Royce
worldwide to carry out these activities”.
These new contracts bring Piaggio
Aerospace’s order portfolio to approximately 490 million euros.
Meanwhile, the company’s sale process
is proceeding, with the Extraordinary Commissioner working to choose a new
owner able to guarantee Piaggio Aerospace’s long-term future