LONDON—The UK Defense Ministry has insisted there are no plans to change the New Medium Helicopter (NMH) program to find a replacement for the Royal Air Force’s Airbus Pumas.
Responding to Parliamentary Written Questions, the UK minister for defense procurement and industry, Maria Eagle, said Dec. 9 the ministry is “continuing with the established procurement process” for the remaining proposal, submitted by Leonardo Helicopters for its AW149 twin-engine medium rotorcraft. It is scheduled to be evaluated in 2025. Subject to government approval, a contract award is “anticipated” in the same year, Eagle wrote.
The statements emerged weeks after the ministry announced in November it would scrap the remaining Puma fleet of 17 helicopters next April to save money by retiring aging or obsolete platforms, prompting questions about the future of the NMH program, particularly considering the upcoming Strategic Defense Review.
Eagle did not say how many NMH aircraft would be acquired as the contest remains “sensitive,” although the number of aircraft expected to be purchased has shrunk by nearly half from the up to 44 initially proposed.
Nor did Eagle say NMH progress depends on government plans to raise defense spending to the equivalent of 2.5% of GDP.
Leonardo emerged as the only bidder in September after Airbus and Lockheed Martin withdrew, citing their inability to put together the bid when faced with what they considered such a small budget.
NMH program officials had called on bidders to generate social value. Manufacturers responded to this by proposing local assembly and establishing local design capabilities onshore so the aircraft could be adapted if needed.
Leonardo, which already has rotorcraft production capabilities onshore at Yeovil, England, plans to perform local assembly of the AW149 and build aircraft here for export overseas.
Currently, the RAF’s Pumas are operating in the UK, Brunei and Cyprus. The aircraft operating in Brunei and Cyprus will be replaced by Airbus H145 Jupiter twin-engine light helicopters. An expected gap between the retirement of the Pumas and the arrival of the H145s in 2026 in Cyprus will be filled with a “commercial or military solution,” the government said in November.
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