Italian Coast Guard adds an ATR 42 Maritime Patrol to its fleet

Leonardo has signed a contract with Italy’s General Command of the Port Authorities – Coast Guard for the supply of an ATR 42-600 Maritime Patrol (MP) aircraft. The General Command’s current fleet includes three MPs based on the ATR 42-400 and the ATR 42-500. 

The ATR 42 MP was developed and produced on the basis of the ATR 42-600 turboprop regional aircraft platform. The aircraft is equipped with multi-domain sensors and state-of-the-art research and communication systems, and is capable of transmitting and receiving information in real time.

The ATR 42 MP will be integrated into the corps’ aeronautical fleet to fulfill the multiple roles assigned to the Coast Guard, including maritime patrolling along Italy’s coastline and in international waters, carried out with the aid of the advanced technological equipment integrated into its fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.

Already in service with versions specially designed for other Italian government operators, the aircraft is equipped with Leonardo’s Airborne Tactical Observation and Surveillance (ATOS) modular mission system. ATOS manages the vast spectrum of aircraft sensors, combining the information received in a comprehensive tactical situation and presenting the results to operators in the most appropriate format to offer a continuously updated scenario of the situation, also in complex operations. 

The aircraft is used for maritime patrol, search and identification, search and rescue missions, in the fight against drug trafficking, piracy and smuggling, and in the protection of territorial waters: missions that typically last more than eight hours.