Agusta Westland Lynx

The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose twin-engined military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. The Lynx went into operational usage in 1977 and was later adopted by the armed forces of over a dozen nations, primarily serving in the battlefield utility, anti-armour, search and rescue and anti-submarine warfare roles.
In 1986, a specially modified Lynx set the current Fédération Aéronautique Internationale’s official airspeed record for helicopters (category excludes compound helicopters) at 400.87 km/h (249.09 mph), which remains unbroken as of January 2022. In the 21st century, a modernised variant of the Lynx was designed as a multi-role combat helicopter, designated as the AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat; the Wildcat is intended to replace existing Lynx helicopters. The initial design, then known as the Westland WG.13, was started in the mid-1960s as a replacement for the Westland Scout and Wasp, and a more advanced alternative to the UH-1 Iroquois. The first Lynx prototype took its maiden flight on 21 March 1971. On 11 August 1986 the helicopter was piloted by Trevor Egginton when it set an absolute speed record for helicopters over a 15 and 25 km course by reaching 400.87 kilometres per hour (216.45 kn; 249.09 mph) an official record with the FAI it still holds. Announced in 1984, the Lynx-3 was an enhanced development, featuring a stretched fuselage, a redesigned tail boom, Gem 60-3/1 engines, a wheeled tricycle undercarriage, BERP rotor blades, and increased fuel capacity. A development of the Lynx AH.7 with the wheeled undercarriage of the Lynx-3 was marketed by Westland as the Battlefield Lynx in the late 1980s. The prototype first flew in November 1989, and deliveries began in 1991. In British Army service this variant is designated as the Lynx AH.9.