In focus: UK New Medium Helicopter programme down to one bidder

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has been left with only one option for its New Medium Helicopter programme, after defence giants Airbus and Sikorsky pulled out of contention just before the deadline for the submission of bids.

Leonardo remains as last contractor standing in the race to deliver the New Medium Helicopter, the UK’s new go-to for the majority of its defence helicopter action.

Leonardo had put its AW149 design up against Sikorsky’s Black Hawk and Airbus’ H175M.

While the AW149 has been used with some success in countries such as Poland and Egypt, the pulling out of the other contenders has little to do with a type-for-type battle between the characteristics of the helicopters themselves.

Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky said: “We believe that Black Hawk remains the best solution both for the UK armed forces and UK industry, and continue to collaborate with the MoD to support its refresh of the wider UK Rotary Wing Strategy, but have elected not to submit a response to the New Medium Helicopter ITN as we could not meet its minimum requirements in today’s market conditions.”

Airbus made a similar statement about the strictures of the minimum bid requirements, noting: “We believe that the outcome of this procurement as it stands would not be able to deliver on current defence-industrial strategy objectives, particularly its ambition for long-term new jobs, opportunities for the UK supply chain and sovereign capability.”

The UK jobs criterion

Leonardo has committed to using a historic helicopter manufacturing hub at Yeovil (home of Westland Helicopters) to build the UK’s AW149 contingent should it win the bidding process. The company claimed that would allow it to promise that at least 70% of through-life investment on the AW149 programme would remain within the UK.

The home-grown industry element is likely what the two big manufacturers are referring to in their guarded statements, particularly Airbus’ mention of opportunities for the UK supply chain. A key requirement of the NMH bidding process was that it should provide “as much value to UK-based industry as possible”.

Sikorsky could only promise that around 40% of each Black Hawk airframe would originate from the UK. Airbus though had a similar UK supply chain infrastructure to Leonardo, which it intended to use if it had won the NMH contract. The helicopters would have been built at Airbus’ existing UK facility in Broughton, North Wales, which is already a major fabrication facility for Airbus A320, A330 and A350 wing sets.

Whatever the truth behind the pull-out by two of the three major contenders for the NMH contract, it will come as a body-blow to the UK’s Ministry of Defence. The NMH is already significantly delayed, having taken two years to whittle down competitors to the final three, having seen off the Bell Textron 525 Relentless, the AceHawk Aerospace Black Hawk and the Boeing MH-139. Boeing eventually threw its weight in behind Airbus in its H175M bid.

The procurement question

The question now becomes one of whether the Ministry of Defence can accept such a sudden and explosive end to an otherwise protracted procurement process, going from three bids to consider to having just one overnight, or whether it will be forced to look again at the contract’s criteria for UK long-term jobs and supply chain uptick. 

If the Ministry does relax its procurement requirements, it is possible that the saga of getting the UK’s long-term replacement for its current provision of Puma, Bell and Dauphin helicopters in place could drag on through another round of bidding. 

On that question, a Leonardo spokesperson said: “We’re confident. We submitted a bid that is fully compliant with the UK MoD’s requirements on budget, number of platforms and timeline. The MoD has worked hard since the programme was announced in 2021 to develop a challenging yet fair set of requirements that offers a level playing field to all competitors, so we’re positive that the programme should move forward without delay.”

Related Programmes in Defence Insight

New Medium Helicopter (NMH) [UK]