UK awards Leonardo deal for New Medium Helicopter
- Reports emerged in recent days that the UK was about to announce that Leonardo UK will be awarded the New Medium Helicopter contract
- The programme is intended to deliver up to 23 medium-lift helicopters to the British Army
- The UK MoD earlier said on 28 February that no deal had been agreed
The UK Government has selected Leonardo UK to provide its New Medium Helicopter (NMH) requirement in a £1bn ($1.35bn) deal, finally made public in a 2 March announcement.
Emblematic of the chaos surrounding Main Building at the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), rumours that the UK Government was on the verge of awarding a critical military helicopter deal remained had unconfirmed going into the evening of 27 February.
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At the time, an MoD spokesperson told Army Technology that the NMH programme was “ongoing” and that “no final procurement decisions” have yet been made.
“That outcome will be confirmed in due course,” the spokesperson said.
This appears to either be misdirection, or else the final procurement decision was made over a weekend when Iranian missiles rained down across the Middle East, forcing the UK Government into a hurried response.
In the 2 March announcement of the deal, the UK Government said that Leonardo would provide 23 new medium-lift helicopter manufactured as its Yeovil site, which could in future work alongside the Proteus uncrewed system being developed at the same location.
In addition, the deal “paves the path for future military international orders to be built in the UK”, which will gain an increased workshare in excess of 40%, the UK added, citing “20 countries” with requirements for medium-lift rotary platforms.
NMH: end of a saga
Leonardo UK’s best and final offer to supply up to 23 AW149 medium lift helicopters to the NMH is due to expire in March this year, with the company officially the last remaining industrial competitor following the earlier withdrawal of Europe’s Airbus and the United States’ Lockheed Martin.
Concerns had been raised that the UK could look to secure an off-the-shelf helicopter from Europe or the US in order to reduce the overall cost of the programme.
The purported agreement did not stop powerful union Unite from throwing up the celebratory bunting on 27 February, having earlier in the same week castigated the UK Government for failing to agree a deal for the vital helicopters.
“The Leonardo contract is a tremendous victory for Unite members in Yeovil and across the aerospace sector, said Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite. “Of course, we are pleased that the Rachel Reeves has now listened to Unite on this issue.”
This story has been updated from an earlier version published on 27 February.
