The UK Department of Defense has decided to reduce the number of helicopters that will be purchased under the New Medium Helicopter (NMH) program. This is reported by Breaking Defense.
What is known
At the end of autumn 2021, the UK decided to purchase up to 44 helicopters. Almost two years later, due to funding problems, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense decided to reduce the order to 25-35 units. The cost of the NMH program is estimated at £1bn ($1.3bn).
The purchase of new helicopters will allow the UK to abandon the Bell 212, Bell 412 and AS365 Dauphins. The discussion of the conditions was planned for the first quarter of this year, but it was postponed to September. This was stated by Lenny Brown (Lenny Brown), managing director of Airbus Helicopters UK.
Airbus, if it wins the competition, will launch the production of H175M helicopters in Wales, where the production of commercial A380 airliners is now established. The company competes with Lockheed Martin and Leonardo UK, which offer the S-70M Black Hawk and AW149 helicopters, respectively.
Lenny Brown believes winning the competition will open doors for the H175M to other countries. In particular, the managing director of Airbus Helicopters UK believes that the company will be able to sell approximately 500 helicopters worldwide, and is already receiving signals from potential buyers.
A problem for NMH may be the need to reduce production times, as The UK planned to get rid of Puma helicopters in 2025. Although Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton said in the spring that their decommissioning could be delayed until 2027 or 2028.
Source: Breaking Defense
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2023-07-18 16:24:36
