Leonardo Wins $51M to Supply Multirole Aircraft to Italian Customs Police

Leonardo has signed a 44 million euros (US$ 51 million) contract to supply an ATR 72MP aircraft to the Italian Customs Police and provide associated logistics support and training services.

The contract was awarded following a European tender and includes options which would bring the total value up to 250 million euros (US$290 million). The first delivery will take place in2019, the company said in a statement Friday.

“The ATR 72MP, based on the modern ATR 72-600 regional turboprop aircraft, can carry out numerous roles including maritime patrol, searching for and identifying surface vessels, search & rescue (SAR) missions, the prevention of narcotic-trafficking, piracy and smuggling, territorial water security and the monitoring-of and intervention-in ecological disasters. It comes equipped with latest-generation communications and data sharing systems and it can transmit and receive real-time information to and from ground-based command and control centres and airborne/maritime platforms, improving coordination and maximising operational effectiveness,” Leonardo’s CEO, Alessandro Profumo said. 

The ATR 72MP will be part of the Italian Customs Police’s range of airborne and naval capabilities which can be called on to respond to the wide range of missions carried out by the organisation.

The ATR 72MP will perform maritime patrol and search using on-board sensors to detect and identify sensitive targets, maintaining a position of low observability when necessary, monitoring target’s behaviour, recording proof for prosecutions and directing naval and land-based assets.