The following story was filed by Cpl Brian Hartigan and published in ARMY Magazine in December 1998 under the title:

To this Oxford English definition add -- a flying machine of the helicopter family, with sophisticated detection and tracking systems, capable of operating in all weather by day and night and with sufficient sting to deliver a fatal blow to a wide variety of prey.

Agusta, the Italian helicopter manufacturer has entered the latest variant of its capable, compact A129 in Australia's AIR87 contest under its new name -- Scorpion.

The A129 Mangusta has been in-service with the Italian Army since 1990 in the anti-tank and ground support roles. It has seen service with UN peacekeeping missions in Somalia and Albania where it proved to be mechanically reliable in extreme climatic conditions. It also proved very flexible when operating with other land, naval and air forces.

Standing just 3.4m tall and weighing a little over five tonnes fully loaded, Scorpion is a compact and agile aircraft making it less detectable and therefore less vulnerable. But if things do get messy on the battlefield, the helicopter boasts ballistic tolerance up to 12.7mm (.50cal).

As with most other helicopters in this genre, it is a very capable force multiplier in a variety of roles ranging from reconnaissance and surveillance to escort and fire support through to air threat suppression.

This Scorpion's sting is considerably more potent than its namesake in the bush with its standard sting coming from the chin-mounted tripple-barrel 20mm cannon. In place of natures lobster-like pincers, Agusta have added a helmet slaving system which means the cannon is automatically brought to bear on any target the pilot or navigator looks at.

For harder targets, Scorpion is equipped to carry a variety of rockets for ground attack, anti-tank and air-to-air roles. It is currently equipped with 70mm unguided rockets with provision to upgrade to 81mm. In the anti-tank role it is equipped for Hellfire 11 missiles with provision for radar Hellfire, Brimstone and light-weight laser guided missiles, while Stringer is the weapon of choice for the air-to-air role.

Operating in a country as large as Australia could pose problems for lesser aircraft, but the Scorpion, with its 1220km ferry range has long enough legs for most self deployments. However, if the situation demands, it can be readily deployed by C130 with very quick turn-arounds. Preparation time for embarkation is just three hours and it can be readied for operations at the other end in less than four hours. It is also marinised (salt water protected) for prolonged ship-board deployments.

Scorpion's manufacturer, Agusta, is one of the worlds largest helicopter manufacturers having produced more than 4500 airframes since 1952. It also supports the largest range of airframe types in the world and has licensing arrangements with many of the worlds leading helicopter companies.

Agusta general manager Mario Pelleri says Scorpion features the latest technology and combines exceptional battlefield performance with proven in-service mission equipment. "Scorpion's excellent power-to-weight ratio makes it an agile and deadly rough-country fighter, an extremely capable battlefield weapon platform, perfectly suited to Australian conditions," he says. "It is a truly multi-role helicopter that meets and exceeds the Australian Army requirement."

For its assault on the AIR87 project, Agusta has teamed with local defence giant, Tenix Defence Systems. Tenix is one of Australia's biggest defence suppliers and, after the recent acquisition of Hawker de Havilland, is aiming to become a major provider of aerospace products and services in the Asia Pacific region.

The partners are proposing a new Australian-based company to support the Scorpion if it wins the AIR87 contract. The joint aerospace company proposed by Agusta and Tenix will be the prime contractor for the acquisition of Scorpion and for its logistic support with a Scorpion Support Centre (SSC) to be established at the Army Aviation Centre in Oakey, Queensland. This centre will be responsible for all logistic support activities including operational and deeper-level maintenance, spares support and support of all ground systems. Operational squadrons will also be supported by field-service representatives.

It is planned that initial pilot and maintenance personnel training will be conducted on the first four airframes in Italy, thereafter becoming instructors of tactics and operational maintenance, as required in the AIR87 request for proposal.

Tenix group managing director Paul Salteri says Scorpion will be an Australian helicopter. "In addition to assembly of the airframe and related systems, the Augusta Tenix team propose to offer Australian industry opportunities to participate in the development, maintenance and through life support of the Scorpion fleet," Mr Salteri says. "The new company will also market and support the full range of Agusta helicopters in Australia and South East Asia."

PROJECT AIR87, one of the largest capital outlays in the Australian Army's history, will see the introduction of about 24 armed reconnaissance helicopters for two squadrons in Australia's north. 161 Recce Sqn in Darwin and 162 Recce Sqn in Townsville will benefit from the outlay of more than AUS$1 billion, with the new choppers expected to be operational in 2005.

The need to replace the Vietnam-vintage Kiowa and Iroquois-gunship fleets has long been recognised. Both airframes are nearing the end of their service lives.

Six contestants initially responded to the Australian Army’s Request for Proposal. These were -- Agusta with Aussie partner Tenix and the A129 Scorpion – Bell and Helitech with the AH1-Z Viper – Boeing and Boeing Australia with the AH64D Apache – Denel Aviation and BAeA (now BAE Systems) and the RedHawk – Eurocopter and ADI Ltd with the Aussie Tiger – and, Sikorski with an armed Black Hawk.

The list has since been reduced to four – Scorpion, Viper, Apache and Aussie Tiger.