12:20 GMT, October 26, 2009 AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that the Korea Coast Guard has taken delivery of two AW139 medium twin helicopters during an official ceremony held at Vergiate plant (Italy). The AW139s will be used for maritime patrol, search and rescue and emergency medical service purposes. Thanks to the AW139's outstanding features, the Korea Coast Guard will perform a major step forward in providing maritime patrolling and Search and Rescue services in the country. These helicopters add to the Gangwon Fire Fighting Department’s AW139 already in service in Korea and further expand the increasing success of AgustaWestland products in the region.

In addition to the latest AW139 helicopters AgustaWestland recently signed a contract for one AW119Ke helicopter for the Korea National Police to add to the existing 24 Super Lynx helicopters and 2 AW109 family of helicopters operating in Korea. To support the growing number of helicopters AgustaWestland recently authorised United International Helicopters as the AgustaWestland authorised Service Centre in country. The AW139 has the largest cabin in its class for the task with large sliding doors to enable easy and quick access and to perform fast roping. The cabin also allows easy configuration changes to meet operational requirements. With a maximum speed of 167 knots (306 kph) and excellent range and endurance the AW139 can be quickly deployed to the rescue location. Also, the AW139 is the only medium twin-engine helicopter in production that not only meets, but also exceeds, the latest FAR 29 certification standards for safety. The integrated avionic system provides the basis for managing the sensors and comprehensive communications suite required for the mission. The aircraft is fitted with a variety of role equipment also including advanced FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red), search/weather radar, search light, rescue hoist and emergency flotation system.

Numerous coast/border patrol and security agencies and operators from several countries around the world have chosen or are already using the AW139 to fulfil their requirements, also including Japan, Malaysia, UK, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Cyprus, UAE just to name a few. Over 440 orders have been placed by almost 120 customers from over 40 countries to date, making it the benchmark helicopter in the medium twin category for a number of tasks. Designed with inherent multi-role capability and flexibility of operation, the AW139 can perform many roles including search and rescue, emergency medical service, law enforcement, fire fighting, offshore transport, VIP/corporate transport and military utility missions.