Production
Production of the EH101 is split between Westland's plant at Yeovil, England and Agusta's plant at Vergiate, Milan, Italy. Components are built in both locations. Final assembly of the military-utility version takes place only in Italy, of the commercial version only in the UK, and of the naval version in both countries.
ZH821, the first production RN ASW machine (RN01) was rolled out on March 6th 1996. This remained at Westland for the installation of its full mission equipment, but following the landing accident suffered by PP7 in August 1996 it was diverted to the flight development program until July 1998.
ZH822, the second RN production aircraft (RN02), flew at Yeovil on January 14th 1997. It was delivered to prime contractor Lockheed Martin in May 1997. RN03 and RN04 followed, on September 26th and some time in November 1997 respectively.
The first Merlin HC.3 for the RAF (RAF01/ZJ117) was rolled out at Yeovil on November 25th 1998. It made its first flight from Yeovil on December 24th 1998. Pilot Andy Strachan, co-pilot Colin Hague and flight test engineer Mark Hazzard were on board for the 55-minute flight.
The civil utility EH101 ordered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police was handed over at a ceremony at Kawasaki's Gifu factory on March 25th 1999. The aircraft was built in Italy.
The RAF's second Merlin HC.3 (ZJ118) made its maiden flight on June 14th 1999. The crew for the hour-long flight were pilot Richard Morton, co-pilot Jerry Tracy and flight test engineers mark Hazzard and Will Stark.
The 15 Cormorant SAR machines for Canada were built in Italy and delivered between January 2001 and October 2002.
At the 1999 Paris Air Show it was announced that Boeing had joined Team Cormorant in Canada to provide the mission system for the Cormorant maritime patrol helicopter that is being offered to the Canadian government to replace existing Sea Kings. The mission system is derived from the equipment developed for the Nimrod MRA.4 program.
The first production EH101 for the Italian Navy made its first flight on December 6th 1999 from the Agusta facility at Vergiate.
The first Merlin HC.3 (ZJ118, RAF02) was delivered to DERA at Boscombe Down in January 2000. The aircraft was used by DERA for the first phase of Military Aircraft Release trials.
Deliveries of the Royal Navy Merlin reached the half-way mark on March 27th 2000, when RN22 (ZH842) was handed over to the Defence Procurement Agency in a ceremony at GKN Westland's Yeovil facility.
The first production CH-149 Cormorant for the Canadian Forces made its maiden flight on May 31st 2000 at Agusta's Vergiate facility. The aircraft was flown by Agusta test pilot Bruno Bellucci and Canadian PMO Detachment Commander, Maj. Michel Lalumiére.
By July 5th 2000 six Merlin HC.3s had been delivered to the RAF.
On June 6th 2000 it was announced that DRS Technologies had been awarded a multi-year contract, valued at $14 million, to supply flight control computers for Canadian Cormorant helicopters.
The first two CH-149 Cormorants for the Canadian Armed Forces (149904 and 149905) were delivered to CFB Comox in October 2001. The two aircraft were noted on the ground at Aberdeen on October 2nd, and were expected to arrive at Comox by October 9th. The Cormorants were not accepted on the originally planned date of August 11th due to contract delays, and the flight crews expecting to take them home had to return to Canada.
The final Merlin HC.3 for the RAF was officially handed over in a ceremony at Yeovil on November 19th 2002. The ceremony also marked the build completion of the 44th Merlin HM.1 for the Royal Navy.
Final assembly of the first of 12 EH101 helicopters for the Portuguese Air Force (SAR01) began at Vergiate in January 2003 (see image, left). Final assembly of the first of 14 EH101s destined for the Royal Danish Air Force commenced at Yeovil in February 2003.
The first Italian Navy EH101 in the Heliborne Early Warning (HEW) configuration made its public debut at Le Bourget 2003.
The Italian Navy has to date ordered 20 aircraft with 8 configured for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)/Anti-Surface Warfare (AsuW), 4 for Airborne Early Warning and 8 for amphibious operations. The contract for the last batch of 4 aircraft was expected to be awarded at the end of 2003 bringing the Italian Navy order for EH101 to 24. Deliveries of the ASW/AsuW aircraft have now been completed.
In June 2003 Rolls Royce announced that it had delivered the first RTM322 engines to power Portugal's EH101 helicopters on schedule to Agusta, where the EH101s for Portugal are being built.
The first engines for Denmark's EH101s were delivered by the end of June 2003 to Westland, where Denmark's aircraft are being assembled.
The first production EH101 helicopters for Denmark and Portugal made their maiden flights from Agusta Westland�s plants at Yeovil, UK and Vergiate, Italy respectively on 12th December 2003.
The first Amphibious Support Helicopter (ASH) variant of the EH101 for the Italian Navy made its first flight in September 2003.
The first EH101 for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force made its maiden flight at Yeovil on February 15th 2005. Assembly of the aircraft was successfully completed in just 44 weeks, a record timescale for a "first of type" EH101. The remaining 13 aircraft will be produced in kit form at Yeovil and assembled by KHI in Japan.
The first Japanese EH101 left Yeovil on June 14th 2005, three weeks ahead of schedule. It was delivered by ship to Japan, where it was fitted out and completed by Kawasaki at its Gifu works prior to delivery to the customer in early 2006.
Three VH-71 test vehicles and four pilot production aircraft were built at AgustaWestland's facility at Yeovil. They were built to Increment 1 configuration at a unit cost of $82 million.
AgustaWestland started test-flying the first AW101 for Algeria in the week ending November 6th 2009. The aircraft carried the British B serial G-17-610. This is the first of probably six aircraft purchased for SAR duties. The aircraft appears similar in configuration to those used by the Portuguese Air Force, with a search radar under the fuselage just behind the cockpit. The aircraft also features the AW101's updated tail rotor, which gives the aircraft improved control margins at higher weights and the ability to hover in 40 knot crosswinds.
EH101 construction numbers
There are in fact three number series relating to the EH.101, but as with many aircraft with an Italian connection, getting the full picture is very tricky. There are not many known tie-ups for "true" c/ns and either the build or customer numbers, so if anybody can update the productions lists on these pages, please contact me.
- The "true" c/n sequence is 5 digits, starting from 50001, the first prototype. A number of early UK aircraft are known, but with a number of gaps in the sequence.
- There is also a series build number, which is six digits long (some presentations split this into two pairs of three split by a hyphen). The first three give the model number, followed by a build sequence for that model. For example, the Canadian machines are 511001 (or 511-001) onwards, being series 511. As long as they are the only series 511 aircraft then these numbers will run in sequence with the CAF serials.
- The third set of numbers are customer sequence numbers, such as RAF01 or IT01 or CSH01. As is fairly obvious the first part indicates the customer followed by a customer sequence.
Development Aircraft
(NB aircraft with blue serials are those I have personally seen. Those in red have been written off.)| Code | c/n | Civil ID | Mil ID | Notes | Image |
| PP1 | 50001 | ZF641 | British basic systems development. First flight 09 Oct 1987. At SFDO(?) Mar 2003. |  |
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| PP2 | 50002 | MMX600 | Italian basic systems development. First flight 26 Nov 1987. Crashed 21-Jan-1993 nr Cameri, Italy, after rotor brake failure. | |
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| PP3 | 50003 | G-EHIL | ZH647 | British commercial development. First flight 30 Sep 1988. Donated to the International Helicopter Museum at Weston-super-Mare 26 Nov 99 | |
| PP4 | 50004 | ZF644 | Naval common systems aircraft. First flight 15 Jun 1989. Crashed 07 Apr 1995 at Yarcombe, UK, while on high-altitude test. | |
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| PP5 | 50005 | ZF649 | RN mission systems aircraft. First flight 24 Oct 1989. In storage at HMS Sultan. | |
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| PP6 | 50006 | I-RAIA | MMX605 | MMI mission systems aircraft. First flight 26 Apr 1989. Last flight 07 Sep 1999 to Luni-Sarzana naval air base where it is a GIA. | |
| PP7 | 50007 | I-RAIA | ZK101 | Utility rear-ramp version. First flight 20 Aug 1996. Damaged in accident on 20 Aug 1996 - turned over after tail rotor drive failed on landing. Airworthy again 21 Jan 1999. Flew cold-weather trials in Canada. Has also worn civil serials I-RAIC and I-HIOI. | |
| PP8 | 50008 | G-OIOI | ZJ116 | Civilian passenger variant. First flight 24 Apr 1990. Used in C-17 loading trials 23 Oct 2002. Arr RAF Museum Hendon on 20 Nov 2002. | |
| PP9 | 50009 | I-LIOI | Utility rear-ramp version. First flight 16 Jan 1991. | |
Production for civilian customers
| Civilian Aircraft (Model 510) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil reg | c/n | Notes | Image |
| I-AGWH | CIV01/510001/50012 | This aircraft received the British B-class designation G-17-510 and was shipped to the USA in October 2004 to support Team US101's VXX submission. It arrived at Owego, NY on 03 Nov 2004. | |
| JA-01MP | CIV02/510002 | Delivered to Tokyo Police 25 Mar 1999. | |
Model Numbers
| Model | Operator | Purpose |
| 110 | Italy | ASW/ASuW |
| 111 | Royal Navy | ASW/ASuW |
| 112 | Italy | Early Warning |
| 410 | Italy | Transport |
| 411 | RAF | Transport |
| 510 | Civil | Transport |
| 511 | Canada | SAR |
| 512 | Denmark | SAR/Transport |
| 514 | Portugal | SAR |
| 515 | Portugal | Fisheries protection |
| 516 | Portugal | CSAR |
| 518 | Japan | MCM/Transport |
| 519 | USA | VIP Transport (tbc) |
| 610 | Algeria | SAR (tbc) |
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