U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Junior, 17AUG2022.
On 24AUG2022, the United States Air Force (USAF) boasted of acquiring its first ever USAF developed helicopter, except that was far from the truth. The truth is that the USAF spent two years assessing a 20+ years old helicopter design that is already in use by NATO members and even Russia! It is actually built by a NATO Italy aerospace company; Leonardo (aka Leonardo Helicopters).
USAF photo by Samuel King Junior, 17AUG2022.
On 17AUG2022, the MH-139A Grey Wolf took its first official flight as a USAF air asset, from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The assessment process began in December 2019.
Overly dramatic USAF video, by Staff Sergeant Philip Bryant, about the name Grey Wolf, and why it is so important to the USAF to buy a foreign helicopter, 19DEC2019:
The MH-139A will replace the USAF’s aging fleet of U.S. Army developed Viet Nam/Cold War era Bell (now known as Bell Textron) UH-1N ‘Huey’ rotary wings.
USAF photo by Samuel King Junior, 17AUG2022.
USAF video report by Jennifer Vollmer & Jaime Bishopp, 17AUG2022:
The USAF tries to make it sound like the MH-139A Grey Wolf is a U.S. helicopter, while the contract was issued to Boeing, even Boeing admits it isn’t the one building the helicopter! The Pratt & Whitney turbines are made in NATO Canada, the transmission parts are built in NATO United Kingdom and in Japan, NATO Turkey builds the major fuselage parts, and final assembly is done by Leonardo Helicopters! (Leonardo boasts about its international supply chain)
Over in NATO Europe it is known as the AW139 (AgustaWestland 139). The AW139 was the creation of AgustaWestland. During the Cold War, and the 1990s, Agusta and Westland were separate companies. In 2000 they merged into one company, and in 2016 the name was changed to Leonardo.
In the late 1990s, Bell Textron and AgustaWestland worked together to create a new helicopter to compete against rivals Sikorsky and Eurocopter. The first version was called AB139/BA309, then finally AW139. The first AW139 flew in 2001. AgustaWestland even opened a final assembly factory in the United States (now known as AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corporation, aka Leonardo Helicopters Pennsylvania), and changed the name of the helicopter to US139, to try and increase their competition with U.S. based Sikorsky, and NATO Europe based Eurocopter, for a U.S. Army contract. The competition was lost to Eurocopter’s UH-72 Lakota. In 2005, AgustaWestland bought out Bell Textron’s interest in the AW139. By the end of 2012, AgustaWestland began building AW139s in Russia, the sworn enemy of NATO! (On March 2022, Leonardo Helicopters halted production in Russia.)
The Leonardo version of the MH-139A is called AW139M. The 139 series of helicopters is more than 20 years old!
If Leonardo is still operating its AW139 final assembly factory in Pennsylvania, then why is Boeing considered the ‘U.S. contractor’ for the MH-139A? Some defense journals report that Leonardo and Boeing joined forces. I checked the Boeing website on the morning of 25AUG2022, read all its news releases about the MH-139A, it admits that production of the MH-139A is in Pennsylvania, by Leonardo Helicopters, yet the USAF contract for the MH-139A was awarded to Boeing! In 2020, the Leonardo website stated that the MH-139A is being built in its Leonardo Helicopters Pennsylvania factory, Boeing isn’t even building the Grey Wolf! Leonardo also revealed that the U.S. Navy is paying $159-million for a bunch of Leonardo helicopters! Perhaps there is some kind of name-game shell-game going on, the NATO Europe based Leonardo Helicopters made a deal with Boeing just to get lucrative taxpayer funded U.S. military contracts?
Oh and here’s something that should really upset U.S. taxpayers; according to the Leonardo USA website, in April 2022 the U.S. Department of Defense spent $29-million to buy Israel some Leonardo built helicopters!
Proof the U.S. is a Tool of NATO/British Empire:
U.S. ARMY GETS NEW BRITISH VERSION OF THE BRADLEY
BIDEN IS A BRITISH EMPIRE RED COAT? NEW ALLIANCE FOR FUTURE WAR WITH CHINA!
M109A7 (don’t call it PALADIN)
2017: OBAMA TURNS BENEDICT ARNOLD, IS TOOL OF PRINCE OF EVIL BRITISH EMPIRE