Italy’s Leonardo has signed a contract with the Italian General Command of the Port Authorities – Coast Guard for the supply of an ATR42-600 MP maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), the company announced on 8 November 2024.
The acquisition, the value of which was not specified, forms part of the General Command’s plan to renewal its aircraft fleet, which already includes three MPAs based on the ATR 42-400 and the ATR 42-500.
Based on the ATR 42-600 turboprop regional aircraft platform, the ATR 42 MP is an aircraft “perfectly expressing Leonardo’s capabilities in terms of both platform and systems”, the company stated. The aircraft is equipped with multi-domain sensors and state-of-the-art research and communication systems and is capable of transmitting and receiving information in real time, thereby optimising operations along the entire chain of command.
The ATR42 MP will fulfil multiple roles assigned to the Italian Coast Guard, including maritime patrolling all along Italy’s coastline and in international waters, carried out with the aid of the advanced technological equipment integrated into the coast guard’s fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.
Already in service with versions specially designed for other Italian government operators, the aircraft is equipped with Leonardo’s Airborne Tactical Observation and Surveillance (ATOS) modular mission system. ATOS manages the wide spectrum of aircraft sensors, combining the information received into a comprehensive tactical situational picture and presenting the results to operators in the most appropriate format “to offer an excellent and constantly updated scenario of the situation, also in complex operations”, Leonardo stated.
The aircraft integrates the reliability, maintainability, low life-cycle cost and comfort of the ATR 42-600 from which it is derived, while offering the crew a level of ergonomics that increases its efficiency and effectiveness during maritime patrol, search and identification missions, search-and-rescue (SAR) missions, and operations against drug trafficking, piracy and smuggling – all missions that typically last more than eight hours, Leonardo noted.
