So, given that the purpose of a SAR helicopter is to rescue people from difficult and dangerous situations - will we see a different choice of aircraft for the next contract or will it be more of the same?
There are ambitions in some quarters to turn some parts of this service into something like Choucas 74 or Dragon 76. While I admire the work under those c/s, I also believe those admirable approaches would have a limited applicability in this territory and there would be no appetite for their number of bases.
EASA Mountain HEMS? Non, merci.
Within the scope of the current spec one could see H215. H175? 525? ??? What else?
Smaller, faster? Faster: no such thing. Eh ... AW139? Well, fine until the day you are 150nm offshore with IMC at your destination and no space to do proper work on your casualty.
Will any manufacturer actually design a SAR-specific helicopter rather than sticking a winch on the side of their offshore model?
The money is in making stuff for landing on runways and steel decks or as a weapons platform. I suspect an SAR market divides up into 3 or 4 territorial sectors with different size and performance requirements. Nobody will service that kind of marketplace with dedicated types.