The first public display of the AW249 Fenice helicopter in flight, with crew frisking

Two years ago we saw the Leonardo Helicopters AW249 Fenice here, the new attack helicopter of the Italian Army.

An exhibition of the AW249 Fenice, the new attack helicopter of the Italian Army
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Designed to replace the aging A129 Mangusta, which first flew in 1983 and entered service in 1990, four units have been built so far for the development of the Fenice (Phoenix, in Italian): one prototype and three pre-production aircraft. Its first flight took place on August 12, 2022. Its main armament will be a 20mm M197B rotary cannon with three barrels, a very old weapon: the first versions date back to 1967 and it already equipped the A129.

Like other attack helicopters, the Fenice has two small wings with six hardpoints, four underwing and two wingtip, on which it can carry Hydra 70 rocket launchers, Spike ER2 and Spike LR2 anti-tank missiles and MBDA Italia Fulgur air-to-air missiles.

The Fenice was first exhibited at the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris in June 2024, but only as a static display, without any flights. This week, Leonardo Helicopters took the Fenice to the ILA Berlin defense exhibition, where it made its first public flight demonstration on June 10th. There, the helicopter showcased its flight capabilities, maneuverability, and power, as seen in this video published on June 11th by Luhengfoto:

Today the same channel published this video showing the exhibition done by Fenice at ILA Berlin on June 11:

It must be said that these displays were carried out under very strict security measures: in the videos we can see that the two crew members of the Fenice were searched before boarding the aircraft. The search was done almost next to the helicopter. It's the first time I've seen anything like it. Wouldn't it be more logical to do these searches more discreetly in a hangar?

The helicopter looks impressive. Externally, it is very similar to the Mangusta, on whose design it is based, although Leonard Helicopters highlights the following: "is the only Western clean-sheet combat helicopter design in development to meet stringent emerging operational requirements for the next 30+ years".

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Images: Leonardo Helicopters / Luhengfoto.