Leonardo has signed a contract with the Guardia di Finanza worth over 150 million for the supply of three ATR 72MP and the related technical-logistic support services. The contract completes the acquisition of four aircraft, whose first order was made in July 2018, as part of the award of a European tender. The first aircraft will be delivered by the end of the 2019 while the entire supply will be completed by the 2022.
Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo, said: "we are proud that the Guardia di Finanza has chosen to focus once again on our ATR 72MP, an aircraft that expresses Leonardo's technological capabilities at the highest levels in terms of design and integration of platforms and systems ".
Lucio Valerio Cioffi, Head of Leonardo's Aircraft Division added: "The ATR 72MP is an aircraft that combines reliability, low operating costs, all the advantages of the ATR 72-600 regional passenger transport aircraft with a cutting-edge mission ".
The 72MP ATR will be integrated into the air ambulance device of the Guardia di Finanza, within the multiple roles assigned to the Corps by the current regulatory framework. The Guardia di Finanza is the only Police Force with a general competence able to exert an incisive and constant vigilance activity along the whole national coastal development and in international waters, also thanks to the advanced technological equipment installed on its own air vehicles.
Peculiar functions of the latest generation installed for the first time on the ATR72MP will be useful to support specific surveillance activities entrusted to the Guardia di Finanza. The ATR-72MP will operate on air-sea patrol and research missions, using on-board sensors to identify and identify, even discreetly, sensitive objectives, monitor their behavior, acquire evidence, guide the intervention of naval units and land patrols.
The 72MP ATR - already in service with the Italian Armed Forces in a military version called P-72A - is equipped with the Leonardo ATOS modular mission system (Airborne Tactical Observation and Surveillance). ATOS manages the broad spectrum of aircraft sensors, combining the information received in an overall tactical situation and presenting the results to the mission system operators in the most suitable format, providing an excellent and constantly updated scenario of the situation.
Thanks to its commercial derivation the ATR 72MP can guarantee to its crew a level of ergonomics that increases its efficiency and effectiveness during maritime patrol missions, research and identification, the fight against drug trafficking, piracy, smuggling, and contrast to every type of illicit trafficking affecting territorial waters, which can typically last even longer than 8 hours.