Conservative MP Mark Francois has warned that continued delays to UK defence procurement risk undermining Leonardo’s long-term presence in Britain, as uncertainty over the New Medium Helicopter programme deepens frustration across the defence industrial base.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Francois criticised the Government for failing to publish the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan, arguing that the lack of clarity was already having tangible consequences for industry. He pointed in particular to Leonardo’s helicopter facility at Yeovil, describing the absence of a decision on the New Medium Helicopter as emblematic of wider procurement paralysis.
Francois told ministers that Leonardo’s corporate leadership had made clear it could not indefinitely sustain UK operations without firm contract commitments. He quoted the company’s chief executive, Roberto Cingolani, who recently said that Leonardo “cannot subsidise Yeovil forever”, warning that delays were placing thousands of jobs at risk.
His remarks follow reporting by The Telegraph that Cingolani has written directly to Defence Secretary John Healey, warning that further delays to major defence contracts could threaten Leonardo’s continued operations in the UK. The newspaper reported that the company’s leadership had raised the prospect of scrapping future investment in Britain if the stalemate persisted.
Leonardo maintains a significant UK footprint, with Yeovil representing the historic centre of British helicopter manufacturing. In recent years, the site’s future has become closely tied to the New Medium Helicopter programme, which is intended to replace several in-service aircraft types across the armed forces. Leonardo’s AW149 is now the sole remaining bid after rival competitors withdrew more than a year ago, yet the Ministry of Defence has still not placed a formal order.
Francois said the prolonged uncertainty was being felt well beyond a single programme. He argued that defence manufacturers, from prime contractors to smaller subcontractors, were struggling to plan investment, workforce retention and skills development in the absence of a clear procurement pipeline.
He also highlighted growing concern from industry bodies, citing comments made to the Financial Times by ADS chief executive Kevin Craven, who said the delay in publishing the Defence Investment Plan was “frustrating, to say the least”. Francois said such warnings reflected a broader erosion of confidence in the Government’s ability to deliver defence investment at pace.
While ministers have repeatedly stressed the importance of strengthening the UK’s defence industrial base, Francois questioned how that ambition could be realised without timely decisions on major programmes. He warned that continued drift risked hollowing out sovereign manufacturing capability at a moment of heightened strategic pressure.
Will the pitiful number we will end up actually ordering make much difference to Yeovil’s future anyway?
In different news Germany has just ordered 84 RCH 155s and 54 more for Ukraine how long before our order then🤔
I’d be amazed if it’s more than 80.
The potential contract value implied 200 to 240, which is the sort of number many articles assumed. Pie in the sky stuff.
Hi Rob
As you know, I go by the orbat as what is available to use them.
I’ve had this conversation with others, and I always say the same:
Save huge changes, we have 2, maybe if lucky, 3, Regiments to use them.
1RHA, 19RA are the certs, 4RA if 7 Bde get them.
Original plan for 116 guns assumed a 4th Regiment, but that Regiment moved to Deep Fires, namely 3 RHA.
3X8 Gun Batteries makes 24 per Regiment, plus spares for training, 14RA, trials, RATDU, and a small reserve.
240, bring it on, who will fire them? The Reserve LG Regiments? All other RA Regiments are committed to other roles.
As mentioned in another current article, the Army are currently playing deck chairs they’re so short of CSS, where are the units and the personnel to use 240 RCH155?
These guns are for 2027/2029 delivery so even IF we got into the first tranche it’s still years away!
And Germany is just buying RH155 for their medium forces. The heavy formations will have Pzh2000. Over a hundred of them.
We can’t fulfil all the government’s goals without the extra money (and possibly not even then). The SDR did not prioritise clearly enough between the all priorities. The DIP delay is from the resulting bunfight, and it seems pretty obvious that NMH doesn’t make it high enough up the list.
I once asked if there was a B&Q in Yeovil ? and a local said “No but there is a Y and a V !
Take away Choppers and what else Is there ?
Nothing, Yeovil is just the halfway marker if you’re going from Bristol to Weymouth
Cingolani is understandably frustrated. He is likely under pressure from Leonardo management. Like Patria, Babcock and Nurol Makina Leonardo have been selected as preferred supplier and are on a promise of orders for Yeovil. If leaks from Norway are to be believed, more Merlins and a decent number of AW149s. Argus, Ajax and possible subscription to the EU SAFE fund were all late arriving curve balls with the ability to screw up the budget. The govt is style probably being over cautious – dotting budget i’s and crossing t’s. Jan 5 2026 is the announced date for the publication of the DIP. It’s the Epiphany on Jan 6…watch out for a press conference from the 3 Wise Man 😂
The SDR isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, like all the others.
It’s designed to grab the headlines, like “12 SSN” while the details such as how it will be realised without any firm guarantee of the money required from HMT is absent.
Just look at the part on the Army “2 Divisions.”
Great, and where is the details on how they are realised.
Where is Lord Robertson now ?
On Yeovil, isn’t the future Proteus work on the rotary UAV enough or is that pie in the sky as well? More Merlin? I’d ask what you’re smoking if any of those materialise.
A wonderful thing, the D.I.P. Delayed. Impotent, Pointless. It will be another opportunity for Starmer to announce a wonder cure and then disappear as usual to foreign climes where he can’t be got at.
Having binned off Puma2 I would have thought this was an urgent order! or are the MoD hoping that the highly experienced binned off pilots and MAC get fed up and leave the service
It’s been that long and the Chinooks have taken up the slack they will now deduce we don’t need them anyway!
Spot on, Puma gone, personnel scattered to the four winds, squadron standards laid up, Benson soon to be mothballed??
What Medium Helicopter capability, its gone.
There is your answer.
I for one think Benson will survive, with FMH.
My issue is how many and for what cost.
There was a comment , that a UK minster suggested that the UK was looking towards a US solution again and didn’t like being blackmailed
The core problem is that the helicopter procurement budget is too small to maintain the numbers we need or to replace the older machines being retired from service. Since JHC became Joint Aviation Command, it now has to squeeze in two or three classes of new UAVs for the army and RM.
Unless they have had a good budget uplift, I fear something will have to give.
The order of procurement looked like:
Apache AH64E rebuilds – tick, but numbers reduced by 26%
H145 Jupiters to replace Bell 212/412 – tick, but numbers cut by 30%
14 Chinook Extended Range helos – still awaiting.order or initial deliveries, but 14 older Chinooks have already been withdrawn from service
Then, finally, the NMH, in the shape of the AW 149 from Westland.still no order, though the 24 Pumas fulfilling the medium lift role have all been withdrawn.
And now, priority is very likely to be a replacement for the army’s Watchkeeper plus mini backpack drones, support company ones and counter-UAV/low level air defence.vehicle-mounted systems
All of these are essential.equipments. The army badly needs a medium lift rotary capability.for battlefield re-supply, logistics, medevac tactical troop movement/air assault CSAR etc – there are nothing like the Chinook numbers to take over a fraction of these roles. The new Chinook ERs are also prohibitively.expensive, about three times the cost of an 8-10 tonne medium lift machine.
I personally think it would be a black day for UK manufacturing if we lose our helicopter production capability. But I fear the AW149 may be squeezed out by the transformatioists with their zeal for low-cost UAVsplus plus the other services, particularly the RN, seeking bigger slices of the budget for their latest pet projects.
What RN pet projects are you referring to then…. At least they have a coherent long term plan