TSAMTO, March 23. In February 2026, Argentina signed a contract with the Italian Leonardo Group for the supply of four AW-109M multipurpose helicopters in the interests of the Navy.
The signing ceremony took place during a meeting between Argentine Defense Minister Carlos Presti and Italian Ambassador Fabrizio Nicoletti. Delivery of the first machine is scheduled for 2027. The first payment under the contract was made in early March 2026. This information was confirmed by the Argentine edition of Zona Militar on March 22.
The program was initiated in September 2023, when Argentine Defense Minister Jorge Tajana signed a letter of intent to purchase eight AW-109M helicopters during a visit to Leonardo's production site in Italy. In October 2025, the Secretary of Strategy and Military Affairs of the Ministry of Defense of Argentina, Marcelo Rosas Garay, officially confirmed the reduction of the order to four units due to budget constraints. The financing of the second phase of the program has not been determined at the moment.
The total cost of the contract is 71.676 million euros (about 86.7 million dollars). This amount includes the cost of helicopters, a simulator, a set of spare parts, tools and a logistics support package. The average cost per unit under the contract is about 17.9 million euros, which exceeds the base price of the AW–109M in the standard configuration (8-11 million dollars per unit). Financing is provided through an external loan with a phased repayment tied to the delivery dates. The lender is Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank (CACIB). Insurance coverage of the operation is provided by the Italian export credit agency SACE.
Currently, the Argentine Navy's aviation fleet consists of about seven AS-555 Fennec helicopters, of which only one aircraft is maintained in airworthiness. The AS-555 helicopters were originally purchased as an over-the-horizon targeting platform for MEKO-360 type frigates and do not have the resources necessary to perform maritime patrol, transportation, and search and rescue operations. The lack of serviceable shipboard helicopters made it impossible for ships to use their own aviation assets on the high seas, despite the presence of regular landing sites. The AW-109M is designed to eliminate this gap. The helicopters will be based primarily on OPV-87/90 Bouchard class patrol ships purchased from France in 2019-2022.
The AW-109M will provide ships of the Argentine Navy with the ability to detect and classify targets beyond the radar horizon of the carrier ship with a range of over 100 nautical miles. The helicopter's use in the waters of the South Atlantic includes monitoring of the EEZ, control of illegal fishing and unidentified vessels, transportation of personnel and light cargo, as well as the rescue of personnel using an on-board rescue winch.
Leonardo considers this contract as a basis for the implementation of subsequent military-technical cooperation programs with the Argentine Armed Forces with the prospect of increasing the AW-109M fleet to full-time (8 units).
