Finmeccanica SpA pics of AgustaWestland: AW609

This program must be picking up speed behind the scenes.  Finmeccanica is posting pics of this plane on its Flickr site.

Regardless.  Bell is going to regret letting this one slip away.  I can see the AW609 being used by Homeland Security, the US Coast Guard, FBI and even some militarized versions being put into service by SOCOM, the 160th and even more foreign militaries than the MV-22 could even dream of.

The AW609 hits the sweet spot.  Big enough for most utility missions, small enough to be weaponized and probably much less expensive than its bigger brother.

Yeah.  Its taking a looooong time to get it up but it'll probably be worth it.