The United Kingdom’s effort to acquire a modern medium-lift support helicopter is finally moving into the bidding phase, with a contract award anticipated sometime next year.
U.K. Minister for Defence Procurement James Cartlidge announced the latest development for the New Medium Helicopter (NMH) program at Defence iQ’s International Military Helicopter conference in London on Feb. 27. During the “invitation to negotiate” phase, three previously selected candidate suppliers — Airbus Helicopters UK, Leonardo Helicopters UK and Lockheed Martin UK — will compile their bids for evaluation by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Officially launched in May 2022, the NMH program is primarily intended to replace Airbus Puma HC2s with a versatile platform that can also take on roles performed by other helicopters in the U.K.’s disparate medium-lift fleet, including Agusta-Bell AB412s, AB212s, and Airbus AS365 N3 Dauphins.
The original NMH contract notice indicated a procurement of up to 44 aircraft, although the MoD is not putting a firm number on its fleet requirement at this time. In November, the MoD announced that it planned to acquire six Airbus H145 (or Jupiter HC Mk2) helicopters to support specific operational requirements in Brunei and Cyprus, which could potentially reduce the size of an NMH buy.
“The New Medium Helicopter will provide essential support to our military operations, and we’re pleased to have reached this next important stage of the program,” Cartlidge said in announcing the opening of bids. “The program’s competition includes essential criteria that are key to securing vital rotary-wing operational independence, allowing us to respond swiftly to emerging threats in a highly contested world.”
The MoD emphasized that the “competition will include essential industrial considerations, spanning design, production, manufacture and importantly, export potential,” aimed at supporting the U.K. government’s Defence and Security Industrial Strategy. All three shortlisted bidders — Airbus with the H175M, Leonardo with the AW149, and Lockheed Martin with the S-70M Black Hawk — have been keen to emphasize how their solutions would meet these objectives.
Airbus said its H175M is a “high-capability, low-risk solution” that if selected by the U.K. would be made and serviced in Britain by the H175M Task Force. “Design work will be performed in Belfast, it will be made at Broughton in North Wales, and supported in Scotland and at military bases creating hundreds of jobs and helping to drive competition and innovation in the U.K. helicopter industry,” the company said in a statement provided to Vertical.
Meanwhile, Leonardo said that if its “proven, in-service” AW149 is chosen, more than 60 percent of total AW149 production will occur in the U.K. at its facility in Yeovil and through its nationwide Team AW149 UK supply chain. Leonardo said, “AW149 work will directly create or sustain 1,500 highly skilled jobs nationwide and support more than 12,000 helicopters jobs across Leonardo’s established supply chain.”
Lockheed Martin has launched its own Team Black Hawk for the NMH competition and has previously estimated that nearly 40 percent of total Black Hawk production and assembly would occur in the U.K. “We believe Black Hawk is the best solution for U.K. Defence and U.K. industry, delivering a 100 percent military helicopter used by and interoperable with 35 allied nations, technology transfer, decades of export potential and over 600 jobs to the U.K.,” the company stated.
The competition will be managed by Defence Equipment and Support and “proposals will be evaluated through 2025 when, subject to government approvals, a contract award is anticipated,” the MoD said.
