Ars Technica is reporting that the Italian-made MH-139 helicopter beat out two other bids to replace the UH-1 after the programme was put out for bidding.
Just in time to avoid the end of the fiscal year, the US Air Force has finally selected a successor to the aged UH-1 Hueys used by the Air Force's nuclear missile security force: the MH-139, a militarized version of the AgustaWestland AW139 from the Italian aerospace and defense company Leonardo. The MH-139 was a joint bid by Leonardo and Boeing and will be built in the United States at Leonardo's facilities in Philadelphia. The award this morning is for $375 million, covering delivery of the first four helicopters. But the overall program could be worth up to $2.4 billion, delivering up to 84 helicopters, as well as training systems and support equipment.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by marcello_dl on Wednesday September 26 2018, @10:40AM
> Anything resembling "big business" in Italy is infested by Mafia interests
Technically it's the other way round, big business infiltrated mafia.
Unless you subscribe to the theory that mafia is at its upper layers a secret society, not a resistance movement that found criminal activity too comfortable. In this case mafia=massoneria=finance.