Rotorcraft
Leonardo Delivers First TH-73A Trainer Helicopter to U.S. Navy
In a ceremony yesterday at its U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, Leonardo Helicopters delivered the first TH-73A training helicopter to the U.S. Navy.
Amid a group of military officers, elected officials, and Leonardo executives, vice admiral Kenneth Whitesell (center), commander of U.S. Naval Air Forces, accepts a model of the new TH-73A training helicopter from Gian Piero Cutillo, managing director of Leonardo Helicopters, yesterday at the delivery ceremony for the first of the type. (Photo: Curt Epstein/AIN)
Amid a group of military officers, elected officials, and Leonardo executives, vice admiral Kenneth Whitesell (center), commander of U.S. Naval Air Forces, accepts a model of the new TH-73A training helicopter from Gian Piero Cutillo, managing director of Leonardo Helicopters, yesterday at the delivery ceremony for the first of the type. (Photo: Curt Epstein/AIN)

In a ceremony yesterday at its U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, Leonardo Helicopters delivered to the U.S. Navy the first TH-73A training helicopter. The model is intended to replace the Bell TH-57 Sea Ranger, which has been in service for more than half a century.

Before an audience of elected officials, military personnel, Leonardo executives, and employees, vice-admiral Kenneth Whitesell, chief of Naval Air Forces, accepted the first of the type on behalf of the military from William Hunt, CEO of Leonardo's U.S. helicopter division. “This aircraft is going to be the centerpiece for our advanced helicopter training system,” he noted, describing the TH-73A as “providing the most capable and advanced training platform to prepare student aviators to combat and defeat our adversaries.”