MA Group will provide the fully integrated landing gear system for the DEFIANT X helicopter, consisting of the nose and main landing gear, tail bumper assembly, extension/retraction system along with wheels and brakes.

The agreement between Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing and MA Group marks a significant evolution in the Group’s global landing gear solutions with access to advanced developments in the US defence market.

DEFIANT X, proposed by Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) Program. is a medium lift advanced technology utility helicopter and air assault weapon system that is intended as a replacement for the US Army H-60 Black Hawk fleet.

“We are very honoured and proud to count Boeing among our customers and to serve the U.S. Army. This exclusive agreement represents a first milestone in what we hope will be a long-term partnership” said Giorgio Iannotti, MA Group SVP Business and Product Development.

“We have been a committed supporter of Team DEFIANT by developing and proposing creative designs and manufacturing capabilities for the DEFIANT X,” said Rob Lehmann, V.P Magnaghi USA. “We are thrilled that our endeavours resulted in this partnership.”

The complete landing gear system for the DEFIANT X will be designed, developed, manufactured and qualified by MA Group, with its Italian and US centers of excellence for landing gear and actuation systems working in cooperation with each other. The group’s U.S. operations consist of three facilities, two in New York and one in North Carolina, and will be the manufacturing and integration sites in support of the DEFIANT X.

MA Group, the operating parent company of five leading companies in the aerospace industrial segment, designs, manufactures hydraulic and electro-mechanical landing and actuation systems for fixed and rotary wing aircraft, civil aviation, and defense. Apart from Magnaghi Aeronautica, the Group includes Salver, which develops and produces aerospace structures made of advanced high performance composite materials, Metal Sud, a company specialized in surface treatments and special processes for the protection of aeronautical components, Magnaghi Brazil, which produces assemblies and aeronautical components, along with all complementary special processes, Blair-HSM, which is specialized in the production of landing systems and complex aerospace components, and Air Marine and Airlift Hydraulics, a supplier of landing gear MRO services that also provides plating services and surface treatments for the aerospace industry.