AW609 program enters new phase with first production aircraft starting final assembly in Philadelphia

Leonardo announced a major step forward for the AW609 tiltrotor program with the first production aircraft entering final assembly at the company's Philadelphia plant.

The AW609 will uniquely combine rotorcraft flexibility and turboprop performance into one versatile type. The AW609 flies twice as fast and twice as far as a typical helicopter while retaining the ability to hover and take off and land vertically. Like a fixed-wing airplane, the AW609 safely cruises above bad weather ensuring a comfortable and quiet pressurized cabin for up to nine passengers or a mix of patients and first responders.

The production AW609 features enhanced Pratt & Whitney PT6C-67A turbine engines, modern Collins Aerospace Pro Line Fusion touch-screen cockpit with advanced full fly-by-wire digital flight controls, and a larger cabin door for greater versatility and ease of access/egress.

The AW609's composite skin panels were manufactured using advanced Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technology at Leonardo's facility in Brindisi, Italy utilizing digital manufacturing.