Airbus, Leonardo and Sikorsky, the new phase of the tender for the new UK military helicopter begins
The United Kingdom opens the negotiation phase of the sector's offers for the new medium helicopter and sets the contract date for 2025: the Italian Leonardo AW149, the H175M of the consortium composed of Airbus with Boeing and the S-70M Black Hawk are in the running by Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin)
Progress in the program for the new UK military helicopter.
The UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) has entered the negotiation phase of its £1 billion ($1.3 billion) New Medium Helicopter (NMH) program which will culminate in bids being submitted by three competitors, a crucial step towards issuing a production contract in 2025.
On 27 February James Cartlidge, UK Defense Procurement Secretary, officially launched the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) phase of the International Military Helicopter Conference in London, with Airbus Helicopters UK, Leonardo Helicopters UK and Lockheed Martin UK, the three players competing respectively with the H175M helicopter (developed by Airbus together with rival Boeing), the AW149 of the former Finmeccanica group and the S-70M Black Hawk by Sikorsky (the Lockheed Martin subsidiary).
These three companies “will now compile their [NMH] bids for evaluation by the Ministry of Defense to determine the winning bidder,” the British ministry said in a statement .
This phase is expected to provide, for the first time, a complete breakdown of requirements and costs to industry for the estimated $1.3 billion program, Breaking Defense points out. Furthermore, the minister also underlined that the export factor and local production requirements will have a strong impact on the awarding of the contract.
All the details.
UK NMH RACE FOR NEW MILITARY HELICOPTER
In March 2021, the British Defense Minister confirmed that the Royal Air Force would retire its fleet of 23 Puma helicopters, built in the early 1970s. A new fleet of helicopters will be needed.
The UK Ministry of Defense launched the NMH program in May 2023 with the purchase of up to 44 ready-to-use commercial/military helicopters with initial entry into service originally scheduled for January 2025.
The New Medium Helicopter program “will provide a medium weight multi-role helicopter, equipped with specialized equipment for different mission roles and capable of operating in all environments in support of defense activities”. Furthermore, the duration of the contract is expected to be seven years "but will be determined by the agreed production program which will reflect the supplier's ability to complete the delivery of the aircraft and an initial support phase".
However, a series of delays in the procurement process have led to an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) phase, initially scheduled for the first quarter of 2023, moved to later this year and only announced now. And the number of aircraft required was therefore reduced from 44 to 25/35 at most.
THE OFFERS NEGOTIATION PHASE
The tender will be managed by Defense Equipment and Support (DE&S) which will evaluate each offer "until 2025 when, subject to government approval, a contract is expected to be awarded", London added.
Airbus Helicopters UK chief executive Lenny Brown previously told Breaking Defense last year that the UK had decided to reduce the total number of planned planes from 44 to 35 due to funding issues. However, the Ministry of Defense later said there were no changes to the "advertised requirements".
The latest announcement does not specify how many aircraft the Ministry of Defense has outlined as potential needs. The ITN phase is expected to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive breakdown of requirements and costs for the industry.
THE AIRBUS PLANS
If selected, Airbus plans to establish an H175M helicopter production line in Broughton, Wales, where it currently produces wings for A380 commercial airliners.
Airbus' bid to set up a British-based helicopter production line represents a direct challenge to Leonardo, traditionally the UK's only onshore rotary base, operating from Yeovil in the south of England, according to Breaking Defence .
TO BEAT RIVALS LEONARDO AND LOCKHEED MARTIN FOR THE NEW UK MILITARY HELICOPTER
The consortium led by Airbus with rival Boeing will have to beat the competition of Leonardo's Aw149, well positioned according to industry analysts, and the S-70M Black Hawk of Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin group company, built in Poland, with the collaboration of British companies involved in manufacturing, training and lifelong support.
Leonardo UK, which owns Britain's only existing helicopter factory in Yeovil, Somerset, has promised to build a new line at the site and introduce digital manufacturing skills as part of a £1 billion investment program where it plans to produce more than 60% of the helicopter through a wider supply chain, called “Team AW149 UK”, covering more than 70 English companies.
“The majority of the AW149's structural design is undertaken at Yeovil and the company has already made a multi-million pound investment in a new AW149 production line at the site, as well as platform-specific training for the company's experienced helicopter engineers. company,” a Leonardo spokesperson told Breaking Defense .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/airbus-leonardo-e-sikorsky-al-via-la-nuova-fase-di-gara-per-il-nuovo-elicottero-militare-del-regno-unito/ on Wed, 06 Mar 2024 06:57:06 +0000.