Leonardo Helicopters is the sole remaining bidder for the UK’s ongoing New Medium Helicopter (NMH) contest after rivals Airbus Helicopters and Sikorsky confirmed they were withdrawing from the competition.
With bids for the NMH requirement due to be submitted by close of play on 30 August there had been rumours over the preceding weeks that Airbus and Sikorsky were on the verge of pulling out of the contest.
In the autumn of 2022, the UK Ministry of Defence shortlisted Airbus, Leonardo, and Sikorsky – respectively offering the H175M, AW149 and S-70M Black Hawk – for the final stage of the NMH tender.
While Leonardo has confirmed the submission of what it calls “a bid that is fully compliant with the UK MoD’s requirements on budget, number of platforms and timeline”, that contrasts sharply with the position of the other competitors.
Airbus says it has “taken the decision to withdraw from the competition” based on a review of the detailed requirements for the NMH.
“Together with our partners we have concluded that we are unable to formulate a responsible bid that would in parallel satisfy the customer’s requirements and provide adequate long-term returns to the business while implying a reasonable prospect of winning,” it says.
“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.”
If selected, Airbus planned to build the H175M at a new final assembly line in Broughton in North Wales – the site of its commercial aircraft wing facility – using the plant to serve both domestic and export customers.
At its launch in May 2022, the NMH programme was advertised as the procurement of “up to 44 platforms”. While the MoD maintains the quantities have not changed, in reality, bidders were working to a requirement for between 23 and 32 aircraft for a total budget of £1 billion ($1.2 billion), including Value Added Tax (VAT) at 20%.
The original budget for the procurement – including training, spares and an initial five-year period of in-service support – was £900 million to £1.2 billion ($1.1-1.5 billion), excluding VAT.
While both the AW149 and Black Hawk were understood to be VAT-exempt due to their weight, it is unclear if Airbus had obtained a similar exemption for the lighter H175M. The cost of establishing a new production line may also have been a factor in Airbus’s decision.
While Leonardo does not presently build the AW149 in the UK – assembly takes place in Italy and Poland – it says it will add the type to its Yeovil plant in southwest England, also addressing the export market from there.
Similarly, to satisfy domestic content requirements, Sikorsky had pledged that UK Black Hawks would be assembled by its partner StandardAero in Gosport on England’s south coast.
However, it has also opted not to bid. “We believe that Black Hawk remains the best solution both for the UK armed forces… but have elected not to submit a response to the New Medium Helicopter [tender] as we could not meet its minimum requirements in today’s market conditions,” it says.
FlightGlobal reported in July that the Lockheed Martin company was on the verge of walking away from the contest.
Although the absence of other bidders would seem to pave the way for the AW149’s selection, there is no guarantee that the contest will proceed.
Under the most recent timeline, a contract was due to be awarded to the winning bidder in 2025. But the UK’s new Labour government is currently conducting a Strategic Defence Review amid a tight budget environment and could axe programmes – including NMH – to seek savings.
That would see the Royal Air Force’s fleet of Puma HC2 transports – one of the platforms slated for replacement by the NMH – continue in service well into the latter part of the decade, if not beyond.
Airbus Helicopters has an ongoing support contract for the Puma fleet that runs until 2028.
Besides the Puma, the sole remaining helicopter to be replaced by the NMH are the five AS365 Dauphin 2s operated by UK special forces for domestic anti-terror missions.
While the NMH programme was originally intended to provide a successor to the Bell 212s and 412s operated in Brunei and Cyprus, this role has since been backfilled by Pumas on an interim basis.
In the longer term, they will be replaced by six Airbus Helicopters H145s ordered by the MoD earlier this year.
This story has been updated with additional information from Sikorsky.
