Questions over the future of the new medium lift helicopter programme were raised in Parliament today, amid warnings that continued uncertainty could undermine sovereign aerospace capability and the defence supply chain.
Speaking in the Commons, Defence Select Committee chair Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi said defence small and medium-sized enterprises remained essential to national security and warned that indecision risked damaging the UK’s ability to build military helicopters. Citing reporting in The Times, he said there were concerns that the UK’s sovereign helicopter manufacturing capability could be under threat amid questions over whether helicopters remained a priority capability.
Dhesi asked whether defence procurement priorities were determined by the Ministry of Defence or the Treasury and sought clarity on when a decision would be made on the long-delayed medium lift helicopter contract. He told the House: “Defence SMEs remain essential to safeguarding our national security. And while drones remain an essential part of modern warfare, so are helicopters.”
Defence Secretary John Healey rejected suggestions that decisions were being driven outside the department, saying there was an active competitive process underway. He said MPs should be cautious about media speculation, adding: “There is a current contract process underway, and a competitive process for the new medium lift helicopter.” Healey linked the timing of decisions to the wider Defence Investment Plan, which he said was examining inherited commitments that were “hugely overcommitted, underfunded and in some cases unsuited to the threats that we face.”
He added that the review represented a significant shift in approach, describing it as “the Defence Department taking a line by line, building up our plans for the future” for the first time in nearly 18 years.
Liberal Democrat MP Adam Dance raised concerns about the knock-on effects for regional industry, particularly in Yeovil, where Leonardo is a major employer. He argued that failure to secure major contracts could have consequences well beyond a single prime contractor, saying that if companies like Leonardo missed out, “we risk losing not just Leonardo, but smaller defence firms too.”
Healey responded by pointing to recent awards to the company, noting: “Just the week before last, I was in Edinburgh awarding a £450 million contract to Leonardo for a really important part of upgrading our Typhoon jets for the future.” He acknowledged the importance of primes in sustaining smaller suppliers and said that since the election more than 100 major defence contracts had been let, with “84% of those” going to UK-based firms.
Ah we all thought DIP stood for
Defence
Investment
Plan
but in reality is was a clearly trailed dip in funding that was meant.
Another version SB…D.I.P. …Disasterous, Impractable, Pointless. Bet you this is close to the mark !!
if they can’t order a base level of helicopters we are really doomed
the order for this should be trebled, not reduced. There’s a key lack of understanding on the role of helicopters and people in HMT should have no say in whether they have a place on the battlefield or not.
I do think it’s time that the UK gave funding of defence and law and order over to the select committees and make it a cross party commitment.
We can’t keep on like this
MOD certainly needs to get its act together as well & peoples careers must be based upon delivery.
The MOD may well be at fault but it’s the politicians that call the shots. Healey and Pollard, ably assisted by Reeves and Starmer are the ones to blame. Rubbish, all of them.
So exactly who is in the ‘competitive process’ then? Didn’t everybody else get Jared with the delay and pull out!
The trouble will be that it will be a tiny order that has been cheese pared below the minimum economically viable numbers so they will be eye wateringly expensive per unit.
Then add the inevitable Gucci kit and it will be unbelievably expensive.
Starmer wants a domestic job creation scheme so this is going to be the result.
Well, it’s not like he has to force them to build domestically… the only bidder left already has a factory in the UK from their days operating as AW now under Leonardo’s umbrella.
The DIP was clearly an excuse to delay, obfuscate and kick a can down the road.
Politicians?
All liars. The enemy within.