UK’s Medium Helicopter Program Delayed by Over 2 Years
British Army’s New Medium Helicopter requirement focused on replacing the Puma and a number of other medium helicopters is facing delays. The program’s end date has shifted from 7 July 2028 to 30 September 2031.
The program was announced back in April 2021, with the plan to consolidate “the ‘disparate fleet of medium lift helicopters’ from four platform types to one, including the replacement of Puma.” Leonardo is offering its AW149 medium-lift helicopter, unveiling its pitch at DSEI 2021, and Airbus is expected to submit a variant of its H175. Boeing are expected to propose their MH-139 Grey Wolf while Sikorsky will likely enter the S-70 Black Hawk. The contract notice was published in May 2022 and the requirement calls for the procurement of up to 44 helicopters.
The UK Ministry of Defence’s annual MOD Government Major Projects Portfolio data breakdown for 2023 describes the program:
“The New Medium Helicopter programme intends to rationalise five rotary wing requirements through the procurement of one new medium lift helicopter-type. This approach will maximise commonality allowing improvements in efficiency and operational flexibility.”
The major projects breakdown suggests that the delays are caused by a delay in “securing the Outline Business Case approval” and that “significant work is ongoing to secure approval which will enable the main part of the New Medium Helicopter competition to proceed through the release of an Invitation-to-Negotiate which is expected later this year.”
This means that the budget for the program is not yet in place and was amended as part of the Ministry’s annual budget cycle 2022. The breakdown also notes that “the project’s departmental-agree Whole Life Cost at 22/23-Q4 increased from 1172 million to 1329 million. The programme received an uplift to safeguard the capabilities that the New Medium Helicopter programme plans to deliver.”
There was some concern that the number of aircraft may be reduced to cut the program’s costs. In response to an enquiry from the UK’s government’s opposition party, Labour, on 20 July, James Cartlidge, the Minister of State for Defence Procurement, responded that “there has been no change to the advertised requirement of up to 44 platforms in the New Medium Helicopter Contract Notice published in May 2022.”