The government wanted to turn Westland (Leonardo at Yeovil) into a proper commercial helicopter manufacturer instead of a drain on the defence budget. To do that they applied some pressure so that a British-built aircraft (AW189 SAR) would be selected for use on this contract. This required Leonardo to step up big-style, since you often don't get away with this with a brand new type, and there was already a bit of a history from 2007 with its little brother the AW139 taking time to sort out for SAR.
Leonardo didn't step up. The aircraft is essentially a good one but the SAR role fit was a bit of a dog's breakfast. To make matters worse, Bristow didn't have a contract ready to sign with Leonardo at the time of contract award and took 4 months to sort that out. Then there are some questions about how technically able and commercially agile Bristow were in the management of their supplier, Leonardo.
It is Leonardo who are paying most or all of the big bills here. It's probably costing Bristow a bit. It's probably costing the DfT a bit. It is costing Leonardo a fortune.
In amongst this, somebody else comes along, gets another (smaller) government contract for using the AW189 for SAR, orders aircraft, has them built in ITALY, uses the Bristow situation as a big stick to beat Leonardo with, gets a slightly different SAR role fit, gets their aircrew sorted out, and from a standing start puts the first two AW189 SAR aircraft into service before Bristow (over seven thousand miles from home).
Overall, the government has tried to save a lame duck but ended up breaking its other leg as well.
Soap opera.
Last edited by jimf671; 8th Nov 2016 at 11:03.