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The Leonardo AW109 TrekkerM, also known as AgustaWestland A109, is a three-tonne military helicopter suitable for various battlefield and maritime missions, including troop transport, cargo resupply, Casualty/Medical Evacuation CASEVAC/MEDEVAC, Search and Rescue SAR, and special forces operations. It is also suitable for training missions , from ab initio to Instrument Flight Rules IFR, providing students with an ideal platform to hone their skills and prepare them for the transition to advanced military aircraft. The helicopter is also suitable for overflights of residential areas, with the further great advantage of not being dependent on airport structures for landings and take-offs. The AW109 was developed in the late 1960s by the Italian helicopter manufacturer Agusta, founded by Count Giovanni Agusta in Samarate, Northern Italy. AgustaWestland was established in 2006, by merging Agusta and UK's Westland. In April 2016, Finmeccanica acquired AgustaWestland and merged it into a single entity, Leonardo. The AW109 is the first all-Italian helicopter to be mass-produced. Initially designed as a single-engine helicopter, it was reoriented to a twin-engine rotorcraft in 1969. The first prototype made its maiden flight in 1971. The AW109 received certification from the FAA in 1975, allowing service entry in 1976. Military models feature strengthened engines, expanded fuselages, and equipment fittings. In September 2023, the Argentinian Minister of Defense, Jorge Taiana, signed a Letter of Intent LOI to purchase eight AW109S during his visit to the Leonardo Helicopters plant in Vergiate, Northern Italy. Later, in November 2024, the Argentinian Navy, Armada, signed a contract to purchase a package in Italy for 63 million euros, including four Leonardo AW109SP helicopters, a training simulator, equipment, and spare parts. The Philippine Air Force acquired 8 AW-109AH units, delivered in 2015 and operated by the 18th Attack Squadron. Additionally, the following are five world militaries that utilize the AW109 in their forces. 1 Belgium The 12 Belgian AW109 support international peacekeeping missions In 1988, the Belgian government acquired 46 Agusta A109BA Hirundo helicopters to replace Alouette II light helicopters in various roles, including armed reconnaissance, observation, anti-tank missions, tactical support missions, medical evacuation, and transport. Due to reorganizations in Belgian Defense, all Agustas were transferred to the Air Component, while some have been withdrawn and stored at Zutendaal airbase. The remaining 12 operational helicopters are part of Wing Heli and will be replaced by Airbus EC145 helicopters . The United States Coast Guard (USCG) operates two types of helicopters: the Sikorsky Medium Range Recovery MH-60T Jayhawk and the Short Range Recovery 2 Malaysia Ensuring the Malaysian Air Force rapid response across the country's diverse terrain and maritime zones Leonardo attended the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition LIMA in Malaysia in May 2023. The event promotes military fixed and rotary-winged platforms and naval capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region. Leonardo's presence in Malaysia has grown stronger since the early 1980s, becoming a hub for aviation activities. Malaysia has established a helicopter regional maintenance, training, and logistics facility, serving an international fleet of over 200 platforms. Leonardo Malaysia employs 150 Malaysian employees, with nearly 350 employees employed by its joint venture companies. Deputy RMAF Chief Lieutenant General announced a tender assessment for replacing the Sikorsky S-61A-4 Nuri in 2008. A Letter of Agreement was signed for 12 EC725 helicopters at the 12th Defense Services Asia exhibition in 2010. In 2021, four AgustaWestland AW139s were leased from Malaysian aviation company Weststar Aviation as temporary replacements before purchasing 24 new helicopters to replace the S-61A4 Nuri. According to Defense Security Asia, a Malaysian Agusta A109 helicopter made an emergency landing at Kluang Airstrip, Sohor, South Malaysia. The helicopter carried three crew members: a helicopter instructor, a course student, and a quartermaster crew, during a Night Flight Training session for the Army Aviation Basic Officer Course on June 28, 2024. Malaysia acquired the Kuwaiti F/A-18C/D Hornets despite political indecision and budgetary issues surrounding the MRCA program. Malaysia has been seeking the Kuwaiti jets since 2017. 3 Nigeria The strong cooperation with Italian aircraft manufacturers exceeds 15 rotors The Nigerian Air Force plans to increase its counterterrorism capabilities by procuring 50 new military aircraft, including 12 new Leonardo AW-109 multipurpose helicopters. In 2018, the NAF ordered six AW109 Powers, a militarized version of the AW109E, which can be armed with heavy machine gun pods and 70 mm rocket launchers. Nigeria's Deep Blue Project DBP has received an AW109 helicopter, part of a larger order of three helicopters, two special mission vessels, 17 fast interceptor boats, two Cessna Citation CJ3, four unmanned aerial vehicles, and 16 armored vehicles, all delivered in 2021 at Apapa Wharf in Lagos. Nigeria's air force plans to acquire 24 Italian-made Aermacchi M-346 Master attack jets and ten AW-109 Trekker helicopters as part of a fleet renewal strategy. The first three M-346 aircraft are expected to be delivered by early 2025, with subsequent deliveries scheduled until mid-2026. In June 2024, Nigeria received two Bell Huey helicopters, two Trekkers, and 12 A-29 Super Tucano light attack jets. It also has pending deliveries of Chinese-made Wing Loong II drones. "The M-346 and Trekker acquisitions are key steps towards fleet renewal," Nigeria's Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar 4 South Africa At least 25 combat AW109 and more commercial Leonardos The South African Air Force selected the AW109 LUH in a contest with the Bell 427 and the Eurocopter EC635, ordered in 1999. The first 30 were delivered in 2005 and replaced the older Alouette III helicopters. In 2024, the total number of helicopters the SAAF flies will be 25. The South African LUHs offer unique abilities due to their two engines, a 530 Kw Turbomeca Arrius made by Safran Helicopter Engines Company, Bordes, France. The engine is a single-stage power turbine utilized for the Eurocopter EC120 Colibri, Eurocopter EC135, and Kamov Ka-226 helicopters as well. Performance Specification Powerplant 2 x 530 Kw Turbomeca Arrius 2K2 Speed 175 MPH (283 km/h) Range 581 mi (935 km) Seats 2+6 In 2019, Leonardo signed a Distributorship Agreement with Absolute Aviation Group in South Africa for the civil and commercial market, including the AW119Kx single engine, AW109 GrandNew, and AW109 Trekker light twins. Absolute Aviation Group has also signed a contract for an AW119Kx and an AW109 Trekker. The order marks the Trekkers' entry into the South African market, building on the success of other AW109 variants. Additionally, a private operator has contracted the AW139 in VIP configuration, strengthening Leonardo's presence in South Africa. Over 60 helicopters of various models are currently in operation. The beauty of flying, among a whole host of either factors, is the fact that aircraft come in a huge range of different shapes and sizes. In fixed-wing aircraft alone, there is considerable diversity in size, ranging from single-seaters right up to double-decker quadjets like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747. However, these aren't the only aircraft in the skies today.Indeed, somewhat rarer (but equally as fascinating in many ways) are helicopters, with these aircraft primarily being deployed for private, military, and regional purposes. On account of their low passenger capacity, they can often be quite expensive per person to fly on, but they offer a different flying experience with the convenience of being able to take off and land more or less anywhere.Personally, I have yet to fly on a helicopter, although doing so is definitely a future aspiration of mine. The closest I've come was when traveling to the Isles of Scilly on a fixed-wing Twin Otter aircraft, as helicopters also ply 5 Sweden Sweden's challenging terrain and weather conditions require powerful rotors Swedish military helicopters are part of the Swedish Armed Forces Helicopter Wing, which collaborates with the air force, army, and navy. HkpSkv Helikopterskvadronen is based at Ronneby, South Sweden. Its role is to support naval operations with the AgustaWestland AW109MUH, delivered in 2006, known in Swedish military service as the Hkp15B and Hkp15As. The Hkp15s are sea patrolling vessels, primarily working with ships for surface surveillance and traffic control. To ensure safety, they fly low and avoid low flights along coastlines to avoid birds. They are equipped with wire cutters to reduce vulnerability to snagging wires and cables and are designed to prevent overland wires and telephone masts. On 17 November 2021, Safran Helicopter Engines and Saab renewed their nine-year Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul MRO contract to support 45 Arrius 2K2 engines on the Leonardo AW109. Safran produces just about everything short of fuselages from engines to seats to satellite propulsion systems. The new AW109 Trekker proves its versatility for military operations, suitable for law enforcement, border patrol, and surveillance. With advanced technology and a modular integrated glass cockpit, it offers high safety, controllability, and maneuverability. The aircraft's cabin flexibility allows quick role changes and offers tactical mission equipment like multi-band radios and radar. Feature AW109 Trekker Powerplant 2 x Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207C Length 42 ft 06 in (12.96 m) Max Cruise Speed 148 KTAS (170 MPH, 274 km/h) Max Range 447 NM (514 mi, 828 km) On the other hand, in 2021, the Italian Army retired the AW109 after more than 45 years of service, replacing it with the Leonardo AW149, AW169, and AW249. Weighing just 2.5kg, the system will confuse enemy air defences at a close distance.Jojun New Material Technology: Thermal Paste for PS4
Vaigai needs a thorough cleaning from the hills to the seaShare Tweet Share Share Email You’ll never believe this based on their recent price action, but Stellar ( XLM) and Litecoin ( LTC) were once mainstays among the top 20 crypto leaders by market capitalization. But that was a good seven years ago—back when Stellar and Litecoin’s price action were at all-time highs. Fast forward to today, and Stellar and Litecoin have fallen precipitously out of the top 20 crypto list, remaining but mere shadows of their former selves even as the market turns bullish. The prognosis is better for innovative newcomers with unlimited upside to pump—one of which is multichain DeFi protocol Lunex Network . Interest in Lunex presale moons amid bullish market sentiment DeFi is being tipped for a major comeback in 2025. That makes investing in undervalued gems with significant potential to capture the incoming liquidity explosion in the sector the big-brained play. One of those opportunities appears to have arrived with the launch of the cross-chain DeFi protocol Lunex Network , which aims to solve the interoperability hurdle that has hampered the wider adoption of blockchain technology. Through the self-custodial Lunex Wallet, users will be able to swap and trade 50,000 tokens across 40 blockchains, reducing the friction involved with having to manually perform the tedious task of connecting your wallet to a potentially vulnerable bridge and wrap your tokens to trade them on the blockchain of your choice. With Lunex Network, every aspect of managing your portfolio—staking, swapping, and interacting with Web3 protocols—is at your fingertips. Through its ability to streamline the Web3 and DeFi user experience, Lunex Network could be in line to play a role in onboarding new users. In turn, that could translate to a parabolic pump for its native token, $LNEX, in 2025. Given its low cap status, Lunex can very well outperform big caps in the list of top 20 crypto tokens by market cap, making it an intriguing play for big game hunters. Can Litecoin price break into the top 20 crypto by market cap? Litecoin hasn’t been “right” since Bitcoin minted its historic all-time high in 2021. Prior to Bitcoin’s first “moon,” Litecoin prices had generally followed the same chart as Bitcoin. Since then, however, Litecoin prices have diverged, leading to a sensational crash. That makes a retest of its 2021 all-time high of $410 look unlikely. Nevertheless, Litecoin ‘s utility for online payments has kept it hovering within earshot of the top 20 crypto list, even as it remains 79% below its all-time high. Stellar picks up the pace in November Stellar is another blast from the past that’s trying to make a comeback in 2024. Once written off as a relic of a bygone era, Stellar defied expectations by enabling smart contracts on its blockchain earlier this year. That has seemed to strike a chord with the investing public. In the past 30 days, Stellar has been on a blistering 150% gain, outpacing even Bitcoin in terms of monthly growth. Between Stellar and Litecoin , the former has more going for it to break into the top 20 crypto list. However, if we’re talking about potential gains, Lunex Network has the higher upside to go on a parabolic run compared to Stellar and Litecoin—making it the best choice for investors looking to make a profit with a small-cap blue chip. You can find more information about Lunex Network (LNEX) here: Website: https://lunexnetwork.com Socials: https://linktr.ee/lunexnetwork Related Items: Litecoin (LTC) , Lunex Network Share Tweet Share Share Email Recommended for you Top Crypto to Buy Before Christmas? Watch Out for Monero, Optimism, and Lunex Top Crypto Gainers You Can’t Afford to Miss: Mantra, Stellar, Lunex Token Discover Why Crypto Whales are Selling off FLOKI and BRETT in Lunex Network Migration CommentsHow an august body of men worked out India’s foundational document
Stock market today: Wall Street mixed at the start of a holiday-shortened weekPenn State preparing for hard-charging Jeanty and Boise State in CFP quarterfinals
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Things can go sour in life, but there's often a way to make those situations better. That's why insurance upstart Lemonade ( LMND 2.22% ) chose its quirky name. Lemonade shareholders should be feeling a bit sweeter these days. After three quarters of ups and downs, the stock is now up 180% year to date as we get close to the end of 2024. However, it's still 74% off of its all-time highs. Here's what's happening now, and how to think about this growth stock going into the new year. No more sour lemons Lemonade electrified the market when it went public in July 2020 -- but many other tech stocks did too during that period's bull market. Valuations went through the roof in the excitement, Lemonade's along with them. Then came the 2022 tech slump, and the stock was quickly and deeply humbled, falling by more than 90% from its peak. Since then, the stock has plodded along, largely moving sideways. But recently, its business has displayed incredible momentum, and that has translated into fantastic share price gains. The market's new enthusiasm stems from Lemonade's improving loss ratio and profitability. For years, the company has touted its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms, claiming that its system gave it significant advantages over legacy insurers. But as it produced unexceptional results and mounting losses, that was starting to look like wishful thinking. Now, it's finally beginning to deliver on the hype. It's still reporting robust growth, with in-force premiums up 24% year over year in the third quarter, and a 17% increase in customer count. But its loss ratio went down by 10 percentage points to 73% -- a level within Lemonade's target long-term range. It also generated $16 million in cash from operations and $48 million in net cash flow . Stocks tend to move based on quarterly reports, but something Lemonade noted in the latest report was that its trailing-12-month loss ratio was 77%, down 11 percentage points, and it was the fifth consecutive decrease in the trailing-12-month figure. That's a more telling metric, signaling that the quarterly improvement was not a fluke. However, loss ratios are down for the entire industry as inflation eases, and Lemonade's loss ratio movement is still something for investors to keep an eye on. Sweetening the deal Lemonade just had its first investor meeting in two years, and while there were many highlights, the most exciting part was that management is expecting to 10x its business, boosting its in force premiums to $10 billion, in the same amount of time it took to reach $1 billion -- about 10 years. It made a compelling argument. The company noted that insurance is one of the biggest industries there is, and disrupters have a meaningful shot at becoming its new leaders. Since the industry is dominated by centuries-old companies, Lemonade -- built around new digital systems -- has a structural advantage. From the beginning, it maintained that it would take time for its platform to get enough data and perform enough modeling to start demonstrating superior results. The company is just getting into that phase, and as its revenue growth exceeds its expenses, it expects to become not just profitable, but massively profitable. This chart offers investors a sense of how this is playing out. IFP is the average total premium in-force in a given period of time, Opex refers to operating expense, and CAC is customer-acquisition costs. Lemonade has kept headcount flat even as it achieved steady growth. That's because it relies on technology to do the heavy lifting. But this chart is focused on fixed expenses and leaves out Lemonade's biggest expense, CAC. Lemonade will reach a level of scale when sales outdo expenses, including CAC. Management is expecting growth to accelerate over the next two years and for the company to report positive net income in 2027. The stock's recent jump already reflects the improved performance and confidence in the future. But if one tries to peer far into the future -- say, 20 years -- it's easy to imagine that Lemonade's platform could be completely outperforming the models of traditional insurance companies. Is there more upside? After a share price run-up like the one Lemonade has enjoyed in the past few months, investors might be worried that there's not much more upside potential. No one can know what will happen in the near term, but the long-term opportunity looks very exciting. Lemonade's valuation might still be called reasonable. It's not a regular insurance company because it has the tech element and it's a growth stock, and it's not profitable, so it's not easy to value. It trades at 5.5 book value, which is in line with some other insurance companies, although price-to-book value has soared along with Lemonade's price. It's trading at 6 times trailing-12-month sales , which isn't objectively cheap, but it's nowhere near the astronomical ratios of more than 50 that it traded at back at the stock's peak. Don't expect linear upward movement from this stock, but if you have some appetite for risk and a long-term investing horizon, Lemonade should be on your buy list.LONDON (AP) — A civil jury in Ireland finds that mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor assaulted a woman in a hotel. (CORRECTS: A previous APNewsAlert misstated the claim the jury found him liable for.).
No. 9 Kentucky, focused on getting better, welcomes Jackson St.Undercover FBI agents were not present during the 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters, a Justice Department watchdog said Thursday in a report debunking a popular right-wing conspiracy theory. "We found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6," Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz said in an 88-page report. Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6 in a bid to prevent congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory. Right-wing media and even some Republican lawmakers have spuriously claimed that undercover FBI agents provoked the attack on Congress, which followed a fiery speech by Trump in which he falsely claimed the election had been stolen. The inspector general said that while no undercover FBI agents were present at the Trump rally or the Capitol, 26 FBI informants known as confidential human sources (CHS) were in Washington at the time. Three of the informants had been tasked with reporting on domestic terrorist suspects while the others were there on their own. "None of these FBI CHSs were authorized to enter the Capitol or a restricted area, or to otherwise break the law on January 6, nor was any CHS directed by the FBI to encourage others to commit illegal acts on January 6," the report said. The inspector general also said there had been an intelligence-gathering failure by the FBI ahead of the January 6 attack. "While the FBI undertook significant efforts to identify domestic terrorism subjects who planned to travel to the Capital region on January 6," the report said, "the FBI did not take a step that could have helped the FBI and its law enforcement partners with their preparations. "Specifically, the FBI did not canvass its field offices in advance of January 6, 2021, to identify any intelligence, including CHS reporting, about potential threats to the January 6 Electoral Certification," it said. FBI deputy director Paul Abbate was quoted as saying this was a "basic step that was missed" in "understanding the threat picture prior to January 6." Trump was impeached by the Democratic-majority House of Representatives following the attack on the Capitol, but acquitted by the Senate. He is to return to the White House on January 20 after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the November presidential election. More than 1,500 people have been charged in connection with the assault on Congress. Trump has lauded them as "patriots" and "political prisoners" and pledged to pardon many of them when he returns to the White House. cl/st