Various branches of the Italian military have operated variants of the AW109; the
Guardia di Finanza has operated its own variant of the AW109 since the 1980s for border patrol and customs duties, by 2010, it was in the process of replacing its original AW109s with a new-generation of AW109s. The improved AW109E and SP – GrandNew versions were operated by
No. 32 Squadron of the
Royal Air Force to transport Government ministers, senior military personnel, and members of the
British royal family. In 1988, 46 A109s were sold to the
Belgian Armed Forces; it was later alleged that Agusta had given the
Flemish Socialist Party over 50 million
Belgian francs as a
bribe to secure the sale. The resulting scandal led to the resignation and later conviction of
NATO Secretary General Willy Claes. Belgium has operated an A109 aerial display team. In early 2013, a pair of Belgian AW109s were deployed to
Sévaré,
Mali, to perform
medical evacuation mission in support of the French-led
Operation Serval. In June 2013, Belgian newspaper
La Libre Belgique alleged that several former Belgian military helicopters had been sold via a private company to
South Sudan in violation of a
European Union embargo on weapons sales. (SAAF) A109 LUHs landing in formation During the 1990s, the
US Coast Guard, seeking to tackle
drug trafficking on small
speed boats via armed aerial
interdiction helicopters, evaluated several options and selected the AW109 as the winner. For a number of years, eight armed AW109s, designated
MH-68A Sting Ray, were leased from AgustaWestland and deployed at Coast Guard land facilities and onboard
cutters. Positive experience with the AW109 led to the Coast Guard deciding to arm all of its helicopters and, following adaptions of their existing assets, the AW109s were returned after the lease expired. As many as 16 SAAF AW109s were deployed for patrol, utility, and medical evacuation missions during the
2010 FIFA World Cup. In July 2013, the SAAF reported that 18 AW109s had effectively been grounded due to lack of funding, these rotorcraft being only occasionally activated but not conducting flights; in 2013, only 71 flight hours were allocated to the whole AW109 fleet. The type may be reduced to flying VIPs rather than being operationally capable; South Africa is also considering selling a number of AW109s, and may cease helicopter operations altogether. In 2001, 20 AW109s were ordered for the
Swedish Armed Forces, In early 2015, a pair of Swedish AW109s were deployed on board the
Royal Netherlands Navy ship
HNLMS Johan de Witt, their first-ever deployment on board a foreign vessel, in support of a multinational anti-
piracy mission off the coast of
Somalia; the AW109 reportedly achieve a 100% availability rate over the course of three months. Between 2007 and 2012, three AW109E Power helicopters were operated under lease by the
Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to train naval aircrew. In May 2008, the
Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) placed an order for five AW109LUH rotorcraft to replace their aging
Bell 47 Sioux in a training capacity; they are also used in the utility role to complement the larger
NHIndustries NH90 and has seen limited use in VIP missions. During August 2008, Scott Kasprowicz and Steve Sheik broke the round-the-world speed record using a factory-standard
AgustaWestland AW109S Grand, with a time of 11 days, 7 hours and 2 minutes. The AW109S Grand is also recorded as being the fastest helicopter from
New York to
Los Angeles. AW109 Light Armed Helicopter during the
Exercise Balikatan 2016 In 2013, the
Philippine Air Force (PAF) and the
Philippine Navy independently ordered batches of AW109 Power rotorcraft; additional AW109s were ordered in 2014. The PAF AW109s are used as armed gunships, while both armed and unarmed AW109s are operated by the Philippine Navy. During the
Battle of Marawi, multiple PAF AW109s engaged in combat the ISIS-affiliated
Maute Group. During November 2020, a PAF AW109 was involved in a joint operation of
Armed Forces of the Philippines Joint Task Force (JTF) - Sulu against
Abu Sayyaf kidnappers in northern Mindanao, firing upon a boat in conjunction with strafing fire from
Philippine Navy Multipurpose Assault Craft.Philippine Naval Air Wing's AW109 helicopter played a key role in the Ground-Based Anti-Ship Missile (GBASM) raid training exercise at Camp Cape Bojeador, Burgos, Ilocos Norte, as part of Exercise KAMANDAG 2025. ==Variants==