Leonardo PZL-Świdnik offers AW109 TrekkerM helicopter to prepare Polish pilots for Apache training.

At MSPO 2026, PZL-Świdnik presented the AW109 TrekkerM military helicopter as part of an integrated training proposal for the Polish Armed Forces. The submission addresses Poland's planned acquisition of 24 training aircraft required to build flight crews for an upcoming fleet of 96 AH-64E Apaches, 32 AW149s, and four AW101s. The offer combines domestic manufacturing, flight simulators, and tactical instruction packages to reduce operational flight hours on frontline aircraft.

PZL-Świdnik proposed a 24-unit AW109 TrekkerM training ecosystem to support the expansion of Poland's military helicopter fleet ahead of initial AH-64E Apache deliveries in 2028. The twin-engine platform features a 3,175 kg maximum internal gross weight, digital glass cockpit avionics, and multi-weapon integration designed to transition crews from basic flight skills to operational conversion.

Related topic: Polish Armed Forces receive first Leonardo AW149 helicopter fully built in Poland

An armed AW109 TrekkerM would let pilots learn tactical maneuvering, target acquisition, crew coordination, as well as 70 mm rocket and machine gun employment, before progressing to the more expensive AH-64E or armed AW149. (Picture source: Army Recognition)

At MSPO 2026, PZL-Świdnik, the Polish subsidiary of Leonardo's Helicopter division, is promoting the AW109 TrekkerM for Poland’s planned integrated combat helicopter training system, which includes a requirement for 24 aircraft to prepare crews for a fleet of 96 AH-64E Apaches, 32 AW149s, and four AW101s. The pressure around this program is concentrated in the next six years: the AW149s are being delivered between 2023 and 2029 (53.1% were already delivered to the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade), while the 96 AH-64Es are scheduled between 2028 and 2032, requiring Poland to rapidly expand its training capacity through a program that would produce a ratio of one trainer per 5.5 operational helicopters.

The problem is not simply the replacement of the Mi-2 as an ageing trainer, but the widening gap between an analogue cockpit used for basic instruction and operational helicopters with digital cockpit management, night vision equipment, as well as modern sensors, weapons, mission systems and two-crew procedures. PZL-Świdnik is therefore proposing the TrekkerM together with a package including simulators, weapons instruction, aircrew and ground-crew training, domestic production, maintenance and later modification, effectively seeking to move a substantial part of training away from operational AH-64E, AW149 and AW101 helicopters. The size and timing of Poland’s helicopter procurement make pilot production a measurable force-generation problem, as the Apache order alone is four times larger than the proposed trainer fleet.

If deliveries were distributed evenly across 2028 to 2032, Poland would receive 19.2 AH-64Es per year, although the actual annual delivery profile may differ; even at that illustrative rate, Poland would have to produce crews fast enough to populate the equivalent of almost an entire 24-aircraft trainer fleet in new Apaches every 15 months. The AW149 fleet is moving simultaneously toward full strength: the first two units reached the 7th Aviation Squadron at Nowy Glinnik in October 2023, 17 were in service by September 2026, and 15 will be delivered through 2029. The four AW101s, for their part, create training requirements for anti-submarine warfare and combat search-and-rescue crews, while the AW149 crews require transport, battlefield-support, and armed instruction. This means Poland must generate pilots, tactical crews, and maintainers for three different helicopters before the Apache deliveries begin in 2028, while simultaneously retiring or reducing reliance on Soviet-designed Mi-2s.

The AW109 TrekkerM would occupy a clearly lower weight and operating category than Poland’s new operational helicopters, especially with its skid landing gear. The helicopter measures 12.96 m in overall length with rotors turning, 3.60 m in height and 10.83 m across the main rotor, and possesses a maximum gross weight of 3,175 kg with internal loads and 3,350 kg with external loads. Its two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207C engines provide a propulsion architecture relevant to students progressing toward larger military helicopters. Maximum cruise speed reaches 281 km/h (152 kt) at the specified ISA, sea-level, MTOW, and maximum-continuous-power condition. With 634 kg of usable fuel, no reserve and the specified 5,000 ft profile, the TrekkerM's maximum range reaches 833 km (450 nm), while the maximum endurance reaches 4 h 20 min. Hover ceiling reaches 4,609 m in ground effect and 2,926 m out of ground effect.

The cabin accepts one or two crew and six or seven passengers, allowing the same TrekkerM to conduct training while retaining secondary utility functions such as personnel transport, rescue-hoist work, cargo-hook operations and EO/IR-supported missions. The current training concept focuses on completing transferable military skills before pilots enter operational conversion with the Apache itself. The twin-engine, four-bladed TrekkerM can conduct autorotation landing training, maintaining a manual emergency-handling task that is difficult to replace with cockpit procedure training alone. Leonardo is also configuring the avionics so students can encounter displays familiar with the AH-64, UH-60 and CH-47 cockpits, while a helmet-mounted display introduces head-referenced information. Instructor-selectable avionics allow students to begin with limited electronic assistance before additional displays and functions are introduced, to follow the student progression.

One helicopter can therefore support a progression through manual flying, IFR, NVG, formation flight, tactical maneuvering, sensor operation, and weapons employment. The objective is measurable: every element completed on the TrekkerM is one less introductory task requiring AH-64E, AW149 or AW101 flight hours during operational conversion. The armed configuration extends that transfer into tactical training. The TrekkerM can be equipped with guided and unguided 70 mm rockets, 12.7 mm machine gun pods, 7.62 mm machine guns and an EO/IR sensor, allowing pilots to practice stabilization, target acquisition, designation and engagement procedures. Unguided 70 mm rocket firing is particularly demanding from a flying perspective because small deviations in attitude or flight path directly translate into larger miss distances, forcing students to combine precise aircraft control with engagement procedures, while guided weapons shift workload toward sensors and crew coordination.

The requirement also extends beyond future AH-64E pilots, as Poland’s AW149s can carry guided and unguided weapons, meaning a common portion of the weapons syllabus could support both attack helicopter and air cavalry crews. Multiband radios, FLIR, searchlight, rescue hoist, and cargo hook additionally support reconnaissance, SAR, and utility instruction. This would allow Poland to reserve the lighter TrekkerM for the repetitive phase in which students learn basic sensor and weapons employment, rather than assigning those service hours to AH-64Es or armed AW149s. The proposed training system also increases capacity through simulation, as Leonardo is offering VxR simulation, full-flight simulators, mobile simulators and other training devices, with the VxR already shown at MSPO 2025.

Procedures such as engine failures, avionics malfunctions, emergency checklists, IFR sequences and repeated mission system drills can be conducted synthetically without consuming fuel, airframe fatigue life or maintenance capacity, while live aircraft remain available for tasks where actual handling, vibration, visibility, formation positioning and terrain interaction matter. Simulator configuration can be updated when aircraft systems or cockpit parameters change, reducing the divergence between the synthetic cockpit and the helicopter flown by students. The systems can also be networked, allowing several simulator crews to fly within a common scenario instead of limiting synthetic training to isolated exercises. Mobile simulation provides another capacity option, as devices can be moved between locations rather than permanently concentrating all training and students at a single facility.

Ground crews are included in the proposition as well, which is significant because it avoids depending entirely on the availability of 24 physical helicopters. The industrial proposal is unusually extensive for a training program, as about 75% of the labor hours required to manufacture an AW109 TrekkerM are already performed at PZL-Świdnik. Subsequently, the proposal could cover production from raw material and airframe manufacture through assembly, wiring, avionics integration, maintenance, and later modification. The AW149 provides a recent benchmark: after the July 1, 2022 contract for 32 helicopters, PZL-Świdnik established a complete production line and service and repair center in about 20 months, and delivered its first fully locally manufactured AW149 in 2025.

The plant works with about 500 Polish suppliers and has manufactured roughly 7,500 helicopters for customers in more than 40 countries during 75 years. PZL-Świdnik also received its EMAR 145 approval on July 2, 2026, after a certification process from March 2025 to June 2026; its scope now includes line and base maintenance for W-3s, W-3PLs, SW-4s and AW149s, component maintenance and PT, MT, RT, UT and ET non-destructive testing. AW149 engineers already work with crews at Tomaszów Mazowiecki, with operationally requested modifications processed through the Armament Agency. A TrekkerM fleet could use the same structure for cockpit, avionics, mission-equipment and simulator updates rather than separating training fleet engineering from domestic helicopter support.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.