Leonardo-Finmeccanica announced today the first AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin Mk4 successfully completed its maiden flight on 24th October 2016 at its Yeovil facility in southwest England. Leonardo is upgrading 25 Royal Navy Merlin Mk3/3A aircraft to Merlin Mk4/4A standard as part of the Merlin Life Sustainment Programme (MLSP) contract. The MLSP contract is valued at £330 million and was awarded in January 2014 by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). Deliveries of aircraft will start in 2017 and
continue through to 2020 with the work being performed at Leonardo’s Yeovil facility.
