On 27 February, the Ministry of Defence announced that it had invited Airbus Helicopters UK, Leonardo Helicopters UK, and Lockheed Martin UK to negotiate a contract for 44 medium helicopters. However, after reviewing the detailed requirements, only Leonardo Helicopters UK submitted a binding offer, proposing the AW149, a model already in use in other countries. Airbus intended to propose the H175M, and Lockheed Martin planned to offer the UH-60.
The Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) agency will now evaluate Leonardo’s offer, with a decision expected in 2025. The Ministry of Defence recently confirmed that the NMH programme’s timeline has been extended by three years, with costs expected to rise from £1.172 billion to £1.329 billion. Consequently, the project completion date has been pushed from July 2028 to September 2031.
The NMH programme initially aimed to replace four types of transport helicopters currently in service with the UK’s Air Force and Army, including the Puma HC2, AS365 Dauphin, and the Bell 412 Griffin and Bell 212 used in Cyprus and Brunei. Due to expected delays, a separate urgent operational requirement was announced on 13 November 2023, for the acquisition of six Airbus H145M helicopters to replace the ageing Bell helicopters at overseas bases.
Despite the programme’s delays, the order for 44 helicopters remains, ensuring favourable industrial collaboration terms, including transferring parts production and final assembly lines to the UK. This requirement aims to boost the capacity of the domestic defence industry, enabling future construction and export of helicopters after fulfilling domestic needs. The plan also seeks to enhance the UK’s independence in operating the new fleet in the future.