Norway has agreed to buy 16 AgustaWestland search and rescue helicopters for more than £1bn, in another blow to Eurocopter, a division of pan-European aerospace and defence company EADS.
The contract for the AW101 all-weather search and rescue helicopter, which will be announced on Thursday, is the second important win this year for Agusta, which in March won the £1.6bn tender to replace the UK's Sea Kings. Canada and Denmark, which have similar environments to Norway, already fly the AW101.
The Norwegian deal is worth about £700m for the helicopters, but comes to just over £1bn when support, spares and maintenance are included. The contract gives Norway the option to extend its purchase by six AW101s.
The Norwegian government has said it wants to replace its ageing Sea King fleet of helicopters with the new AW101s by 2020.
Norway, like Switzerland, has one of the world's most stringent tendering processes, which means that what Oslo chooses has a better chance of winning elsewhere, especially among governments not capable of such careful safety testing and consideration.
The contract will secure hundreds of jobs for the next decade at Agusta's site in Yeovil, in southwest Britain, which employs 3,250 people.
The win comes at a critical time for the UK subsidiary of Finmeccanica, the Italian defence company. A similar helicopter to the one being bought by Norway is at the centre of a corruption probe in India.
India froze the delivery of Agusta's helicopters after accusing the company of having used bribes to win the 12-helicopter €560m contract signed in 2010.
In Italy both the former chief executive of Finmeccanica and the former head of AgustaWestland subsidiary have been accused of involvement in bribing Indian officials. Their trial began in June in northern Italy. Finmeccanica and the accused deny wrongdoing.
The Norwegian deal is a significant loss for Eurocopter, a division of pan-European aerospace and defence company EADS, which had been confident its EC725 would win. A win in Norway, which has some of the world's most stringent safety regulations, especially in the North Sea, would have done much for Eurocopter's image.
Eurocopter helicopters have been involved in several fatal accidents in Scotland, though regulators blamed the most recent North Sea crash of an EC 225 Super Puma helicopter on pilot error, rather than any fault with the aircraft.
Some analysts believe Eurocopter lost this year's search and rescue helicopter tender in the UK at least in part because of five North Sea accidents involving Eurocopter helicopters over the past five years, prompting some oil workers to refuse to board the helicopter.
More recently an EC 135 T2 police helicopter made by Eurocopter crashed into a pub in Glasgow, killing 29 people. Initial findings by investigators found no evidence of engine or gearbox failure.
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