Developments In International Technology: AGUSTA’s INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY FOR NEXT CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS

The remaining bit of the present century, for Agusta, is being dedicated to the regain of the “helicopter integration”. This means practically to collect around the aircraft the optimum vehicle design through the optimum “integrated subsystems” design. In the presence of further weak national military commitments it is paramount to remain aligned into the global market to develop vehicle having in mind the classic basic helicopter qualities: safety, performance, flight qualities, comfort, direct operational costs, “good” and “easy” maintenance. Key aspect of the system specification and of the preliminary design of all the new rotary wing aircraft will be the market survey that will be devoted to obtain an exact picture of what the market really desires; essential item will be the performance balance of the vehicle with correct identification of requirements and the discarding of extreme performance that, bringing only low improvements to flight characteristics, involve burdens in weight and operational costs, This can be obtained only by means of a strong integration of basic technologies like Aerodynamics and Dynamics and with a longer and articulated trade-off phase that involving all the industrial functions both technological-productive and of quality assurance can allow an high content of “design maturity” already from the beginning, with a sensible reduction in development and certification cost, time and efforts. This require, naturally, both a huge technical reorganization, that is hinged around the creation of the so called Helicopter System Integration Unit (HSIU) including into the design groups all the research activities and, also, a large reconstruction of the Company industrial organization, already put in place, with the generation of the “Centers of Excellence” able to centralize, to preserve and to push all the various manufacturing technologies. Big importance will assume, finally, the industrial strategies and the international partnerships, that will be even more intransgressible and necessary to support, with the proper industrial and financial values, such a complex product in a so wide scenario.