Ramon Lopez/DALLAS

BELL AND EUROCOPTER helicopters have been short-listed following a six-week UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) fly-off as part of its £300 million ($450 million) tri-service helicopter training-school competition.

The fly-off, carried out at RAF Shawbury, examined the Bell 206 and 412, the Eurocopter AS350A Ecureuil, BK117C1 and AS365 Dauphin, the McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (MDHS) MD-500 and Explorer, the Enstrom TH28 and the Schweizer 330.

The UK MoD evaluation, has narrowed the compliant-bid platforms down to the Bell and Eurocopter offerings, although, the European-built Dauphin is believed to have been ruled out.

The MoD is to centralise its tri-service helicopter training needs in tandem with contracting out the operation to the private sector. Three teams - Shorts, Hunting (with Bond) and FRA (with Bristow and Serco) are competing for the ten-year contract.

Bell and Schweizer officials are aware of the outcome of the fly-off, although MDHS and Enstrom believe that their aircraft remain in the running. All three consortia are understood to have submitted compliant and non-compliant bids.

The MoD requirement is thought to be for between 37 and 41 single-engined machines and between eight and 11 twin-engined helicopters to replace Aerospatiale Gazelle and Westland Wessex helicopters used by the three services for training.

The Bell 206 has been offered by all three teams, according to sources close to the competition, while the 412 has been proposed by FBS and Shorts. Hunting and Bond tendered the BK117 as its submission to meet the MoD's twin-engine requirement.

The three competing teams were free to bid whatever number and types of helicopters they believe can effectively provide 32,000h of ab initio and advanced training over a ten-year period. It remains conceivable, that a non-compliant bid could be selected, if cost becomes determining issue.

The MoD could announce a decision by June, although it is also possible that the decision, will be held to be bundled in, with at least three other major procurement announcements, to be made to Parliament in late July.

Source: Flight International