Finmeccanica's Alenia defends record of aircraft in U.S. probe

Alenia Aermacchi, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica SpA, on Friday defended the record of its G222 cargo plane, known as C-27A in the U.S. military, despite fresh controversy about a $486 million U.S. program to use the plane in Afghanistan.

"Alenia Aermacchi is proud of its work on the G222," the company said in a statement. "In spite of many challenges, including an aggressive schedule, the G222 was on budget and even exceeded at that time the U.S. Air Force requirements."

Alenia said it was disappointed when the U.S. Air Force decided in March 2013 to scrap the C-27A program and buy four larger C-130 aircraft for the Afghan air force instead but worked to close out its contractual obligations.

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