Italian Air Force to become launch customer of the Piaggio Aerospace's P.1HH HammerHead UAS

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World Defense & Security News - Italy
 
 
Italian Air Force to become launch customer of the Piaggio Aerospace's P.1HH HammerHead UAS
 
The Italian Air Force will be the launch customer of the P.1HH HammerHead Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), a state-of-the-art multipurpose UAS, designed and developed by Piaggio Aerospace. Piaggio Aerospace will deliver three UAS systems – 6 air vehicles and 3 ground control stations – complete with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) configuration to the Italian Air Force in early 2016.
     
The Italian Air Force will be the launch customer of the P.1HH HammerHead Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), a state-of-the-art multipurpose UAS, designed and developed by Piaggio Aerospace. Piaggio Aerospace will deliver three UAS systems – 6 air vehicles and 3 ground control stations – complete with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) configuration to the Italian Air Force in early 2016.
Piaggio Aerospace's P.1HH HammerHead Unmanned Aerial System
(Credit: Piaggio Aerospace)
     
Carlo Logli, CEO of Piaggio Aerospace, said: “We are truly delighted about this decision. It confirms the strong partnership we have with the Italian Air Force and showcases the P.1HH as one of the most advanced systems to enter the market. We are grateful for the continued support of our partner Finmeccanica-Selex ES, the Italian Ministry of Defence, our shareholders and the valuable teamwork with the Italian hi-tech industry”.

The P.1HH HammerHead is designed with a variety of operational capabilities that can be tailored to specific customer requirements, enabling the UAS to perform a wide range of ISR missions.

Developed in partnership with Finmeccanica-Selex ES, the P.1HH HammerHead UAS is currently going through a comprehensive development and certification flight test campaign, conducted at the Trapani Birgi Italian Air Force base.

The P.1HH HammerHead, is suited for a wide range of ISR, Defense and Security missions, and defines an unsurpassed mission role flexibility and sets a new frontier of CONcept of OPerationS (CONOPS) for Defense. The P.1HH HammerHead Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is derived from the successful Piaggio Aerospace P.180 Avanti II business aviation aircraft, the fastest twin turboprop aircraft in the world with a proven, uneventful, service record of more than 20 years and 800.000 flight hours.sive development and certification flight test campaign, conducted at the Trapani Birgi Italian Air Force base.

The design of the P.1HH HammerHead aims at being a unique ISR platform, able to climb up to 45.000 feet, loitering quietly at low speed (135 KTAS) for an endurance of up to 16 flight hours and dashing at very high speed (up to 395 KTAS) to target. Its capabilities include being able to host several payload combinations and to perform multiple missions: aerial, land, coastal, maritime and offshore security, COMINT/ELINT, electronic warfare as well as other roles.