NOTE a MAX of 35 units...........
RIAT 2023 — The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has decided to slash the number of aircraft set to be acquired under the £1 billion ($1.3 billion)
New Medium Helicopter (NMH) program to a maximum of 35 units, an industry official told Breaking Defense today.
An upper limit of 44 aircraft had originally been set in November 2021, but funding issues have led to a much lower target.
“They’ve [MoD] said between 25 to 35 [aircraft], see what you can do in industry,” Lenny Brown, managing director of Airbus Helicopters UK, said in an interview at the Royal International Air Tattoo. “It’s a kind of best effort with the funding available. The acquisition calls for the replacement of Puma helicopters and a number of smaller rotary fleets, including Bell 212, Bell 412 and AS365 Dauphins, but delays have led to an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) phase, initially scheduled for Q1 2023, being pushed to later this year.
The new phase, which will define full requirements and costs, will only happen “at the earliest” in September this year, added Brown.
The UK has also still to confirm when a
production contract award will happen or an NMH entry to service date.