Leonardo has renewed its distributor agreement with Mitsui Bussan Aerospace for the sales, support and services of AW139, AW169 and AW189 helicopters in Japan. As part of the agreement, Mitsui has committed to procuring 11 new Leonardo Helicopters across various types from 2025 to 2027.

The partners have more than 20 years of successful collaboration in the Japanese helicopter market and has contributed to the modernising of Japan’s helicopter fleet, jointly supplying more than 80 helicopters in the 5-9 ton weight categories to national, local and private operators. More units are already contracted and scheduled for delivery in 2025 and 2026.

The Leonardo family of helicopters, including the AW169, AW139 and AW189 types, has delivered unique advantage to its end users in terms of certification and safety standards, technology and multirole capabilities. The aircraft have been deployed in a variety of applications, including search and rescue, disaster relief, firefighting, law enforcement and passenger transport.

The first major step in the growing success of the Leonardo-Mitsui collaboration was the introduction of the AW139 intermediate twin engine in Japan, which rapidly became not only one of the most popular models in the country, but also a global bestseller and the most important helicopter programme in the entire rotorcraft industry over the last 20 years. The AW189 super medium and AW169 light-intermediate types followed in more recent years, leveraging design, certification standards, support and training approaches that are similar to the proven AW139.

Leonardo and Mitsui Bussan look forward to continuing their successful partnership, with plans to expand the capabilities of their helicopter fleet in Japan.