The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that it will exercise an option for the production and delivery of 26 additional TH-73A training helicopters for the U.S. Navy. The award follows an initial $176 million contract from January 2020 for 32 TH-73As, a second $171 million award from November 2020 for 36 aircraft and a third $159.4 million option for 36 helicopters from December 2021. The TH-73A is produced in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Leonardo subsidiary AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corp.
“Leonardo welcomes the announcement made by the U.S. Department of Defense to award AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corp. a 110.5 million USD firm-fixed price modification to the previously awarded contract for the U.S. Navy’s Advanced Helicopter Training System,” the company said. “Work is expected to be completed in December 2024.”
As previously reported by AVweb, Leonardo delivered the first TH-73A to the U.S. Navy in June 2021. According to the company, the initial class of twelve students began training on the TH-73A last September. Based on the IFR variant of the commercial AW119Kx, the TH-73A is intended to replace the Navy’s TH-57 Sea Ranger training fleet.
What base is shown in that photo? Quite a lot of runways.
An adequate number on runways.
Looks like NAS Whiting.
South in the foreground, North in the background.