Agusta A129 Mangusta & TAI T129

Already in the 1970s the Italian company Agusta started the development of a dedicated attack helicopter. This became the A129 Mangusta, that shares some components with the A109, although that is not really visible in the end result. Like many similar helicopters, the A129 has a narrow fuselage in which the pilot and gunner/wea­pons operator sit behind each other. They have separated, stepped canopies that open on the sides. Also typical are the short (stub) wings, which have two pylons each. The fixed gear has two single wheel main gears attached to side and bottom of the front fuselage, and a single wheel tail gear under the ventral fin. The Mangusta's tail is quite swept swept, and has a two blade tail rotor on the top left. Horizontal stabilisers are attached at the base of the vertical fin. The main rotor has four or five blades. Main and tail rotor are powered by two turboshaft engines placed against the upper sides of the fuselage.

The TAI T129 ATAK is a further evolution of the A129, jointly developed by AgustaWestland and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI). Being externally very similar, it is included on this page.

To distinguish the different versions of the A129/T129 you will have to look at

• the number of main rotor blades
• the presence of a gun turret under the nose, and associated external ammunition belt on the left
• the shape of the sensors on the nose 
• the shape of the engine nacelles

Five prototypes of the A129 Mangusta were built. They have a four blade main rotor. Addi­tional characteristics are the small sen­sors on the nose, and the lack of a cannon under the chin. The latter is also a feature of the A129A production version of the Italian army.

The lack of a cannon under the nose, only a few sensors on the nose and a four blade main rotor are the key features of the basic A129. (photo: Mike Freer-Touchdown aviation/Wikimedia)

Only the Italian army order the original Mangusta version, designated A129A. It is externally the same as the basic A129, but the sensors on the nose are much larger. First there is an optical sensor in a barrel shaped housing with flat top and bottom, on top of the nose and that can turn around the vertical axis. Below is a smaller sensor on its side, lined up with the helicopters roll axis, that can also turn around the vertical axis. Like the prototypes, the A129A has a four blade main rotor and no gun turret.

From 2012 on this version was called AH‑129A by the Italian army. 

The lack of a gun turret is obvious on this photo of an A129A. Furthermore the large barrel shaped sensors on the nose are visible. They are in the closed position. (photo: Serendipity/WikiMedia)

Agusta tried really hard to attract other cus­tomers for the A129, but had stiff competi­tion from the AH-64 Apache. To make the Mangusta more suitable for export, the A129 International was developed. This has a five blade main rotor and a cannon under the nose. The sensors are similar to those of the A129A. Different though are the engines. These LHTEC T800 engines have a rectan­gu­lar air intake in the curved front. This makes the nacelles the best recognition point.

Learning from the experience with the A129 International the A129A was upgraded to the A129C, called AH-129C in Italy. It has the same five blade main rotor and also a gun turret under the nose. The engines re­mained the same though, so the nacelles are also the same as on the A129A (and A129D).

The updated version of the A129C mainly has a different sensor on the nose. There is now a sphere-shaped one on top of the nose, much like on the T129. The smaller barrel-shaped sensor below of the previous versions remains.

The Italian military call this version AH-129D. And because Agusta had merged with Westland at the time of introduction, the manufacturer designation is also given as AW129D.

Germany went a different way with the Tiger than the other customers. Its role as Unter­stüt­zungshubschrauber Tiger (UHT) required no gun turret under the nose. Even in its current role as Kampfhubschrauber Tiger (KHT) it can only use gun pods attached to one of the pylons. Another major difference compared to the HAD/HAP variants is the rotor mast mounted sight, a sphere containing infrared and TV cameras.

The improved T129B can carry and use a larger variety of weapons than the T129A. Apart from that, the main difference is in the shape of the tip of the stub wings. These tips are longer, visible in the larger distance between the radar warning receiver sensors at the front and back of the tip. 

Externally, the main (only?) difference on this T129B compared to the T129A is the tip of the stub wings, marked with the blue arrow. (photo: Rhk111/Wikimedia, modified)