The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led to the development of both battlefield and naval variants. The Lynx went into operational usage in 1977 and was later adopted by the armed forces of over a dozen nations, primarily serving in the battlefield utility, anti-armour, search and rescue and anti-submarine warfare roles. The Lynx has the distinction of being the world's first fully aerobatic helicopter. In 1986, a specially modified Lynx set the current Fédération Aéronautique Internationale's official airspeed record for helicopters. As of 2014, this record remains unbroken. In addition to a wide number of land and naval-orientated variants of the Lynx, several major derivatives have been produced. The Westland 30 was produced as a civil utility helicopter, it did not become a commercial success, only a small number were built during the 1980s. In the 21st century, a modernised variant of the Lynx designed as a multirole combat helicopter, designated as the AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat; the Wildcat is intended to replace existing Lynx helicopters. The Lynx remains in production under AgustaWestland, the successor to Westland Helicopters.
