AgustaWestland is making a new push into South America. The Italian helicopter maker, part of the defense and industrial conglomerate Finmeccanica, signed a memorandum of understanding on January 21 to establish a joint venture with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer to build AgustaWestland helicopters in Brazil for both the domestic and regional military and civilian markets.
The move is seen as potentially a major assault on Eurocopter’s majority share of the Brazilian civil, parapublic and military markets. Eurocopter has operated its Helibras subsidiary in Brazil since 1978, delivering more than 500 helicopters there. The model to enter production most recently at the Itajuba factory is the EC725 medium twin, which has started equipping Brazilian forces. Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling has previously said he intends to expand Helibras into a fully fledged helicopter design and manufacturing company.