The Ministry of Defence’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme has been downgraded from Green to Amber in the latest Government Major Projects Portfolio update, reflecting workforce shortages and uncertainty over the outcome of the competition, the UK Defence Journal understands.
According to the NISTA Annual Report 2024–2025, “Compared to financial year 23/24-Q4, the Delivery Confidence Assessment rating at 24/25-Q4 increased from GREEN to AMBER. This is primarily due to the following factors. The Amber rating reflects challenges with workforce shortfalls across the core programme and delivery teams, and uncertainty about the outcome of the competition.”
The NMH programme is intended to rationalise three existing rotary-wing requirements into a single aircraft type. The MOD has stated this approach will “maximise commonality allowing improvements in efficiency and operational flexibility. The user requires a multi-role platform to operate in all environments in support of Defence tasks and across a spectrum of threats. An open systems architecture is required to allow for rapid employment of different role-fits and carry-on equipment. This will enable efficient future development to meet the demands of a changing threat environment.”
The latest figures show the programme’s planned end-date remains 30 September 2032. The report noted: “The schedule will be further developed after completion of the New Medium Helicopter competition.”
Budget pressures are also affecting the programme. The NISTA report stated: “The budget variance exceeds 5%. This is primarily due to the following factors. Spend on infrastructure being lower than planned, due to Defence financial challenges and internal spend commitment controls.”
The departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost for the programme has been reduced. “Compared to financial year 23/24-Q4, the project’s departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost at 24/25-Q4 (measured in £m) decreased from 1329 to 1222. This is primarily due to the following factors. Allocating some funding to support procurement of Airbus Jupiter HC Mk 2 (H145) helicopters for Brunei and Cyprus.”
First launched in April 2021, the NMH competition is one of the UK’s largest ongoing rotary-wing procurement efforts, aimed at replacing legacy fleets with a single multi-role helicopter platform expected to serve well into the 2030s.
The massive work load (for potentially no benefit) involved in bidding for contracts in the public sector is what puts lots of companies off from going into public sector work. Needs resolving.
What a surprise 🙄
One way to get back to Green….buy ‘off the shelf’.
Quite agree with you.
Oh no. There’s Yeovil and MPs to please.
Politics will always trounce what the military actually want.
A flipping Helicopter.
Affordable.
Reliable.
Takes damage, tested and works.
Not bespoke. Not good plated.
In the numbers needed.
We all know where this is heading.
Fewer than needed, by some distance.
Expensive.
But keeps Politicians happy and Yeovil in work.
Job done.
Meanwhile, in the interim two decades, we bemoan a lack of assets.
Rinse and repeat.
What you just described is Black Hawk. Ok if you must a Westland Black Hawk that cost Heseltine his job and will cost twice as much as buying a standard US or Polish bird but if needs must. The army have always wanted it anyway and the RAF can live with it so job done.
Rubbish – the RAF don’t want Blackhawk as it’s too big for what some of their sneaky beaky buddies need!
Bravo , I was just about to go into my usual moan and rant on the subject, but I agree with everything you said, as ever mate….
The Yeovil MP would be happy, they have Leonardo as the only bidder as Airbus and Sikorsky both pulled out and the Latter two don’t have Helicopter Factories in the UK.
Besides, it’s an already off the shelf helo with common parts and reliability throughout MCS Offshore, SAR and Air Ambulances. The new bit is the flares and guns you can stick out the doors.
Totally . New European defence agreements could be useful in all countries buying from the best or second best in category that is available …. The more orders in one product the cheaper should be the costs . Plus with Trump/America showing to be untrustworthy why should we buy American …… the rest of NATO needs to look within
It seems like they didn’t do anything. They didn’t order anything, or spend the money on what it was supposed to be spent on (although they spent some on something else instead). However, there’s only one bidder. There’s no competition to complete! Negotiate the best deal on the AW149s, and if it’s okay order the helicopters. If it’s not, cancel the project. Start again either with a higher budget or more realistic requirements. Or buy a stopgap until the “NATO” Next Gen Rotaries are ready.
Whatever they get somebody will complain about something, so they should just decide if they can live with the Leonardo bid or not. I have a coin in my pocket if they are that indecisive.
Quite agree with you.
Rachel in accounts said No, No, No.
Or more likely as this project has been on the go for nearly 2 years the agreed and very ambitious Budget just doesn’t cover the costs anymore !
7 years to buy a freaking Helicopter? And they don’t think they can manage that!
Unfortunately that’s the way it is. And I can tell you if they choose the AW149, it’ll be much longer than that!
Really how hard is it to buy a medium rotor, it’s an off the self product with a tiny number of realistic options.. this is in year cost saving at its most destructive…
They are all established helicopter types how long does it take to go and find how much per hour it costs to operate and what are the maintenance costs. Purchase costs are irrelevant if they can’t afford to fly it.
“The Amber rating reflects challenges with workforce shortfalls across the core programme”
That is surely in reference to Leonardo? So why is it a problem for MoD?
RAF Benson is still there, and the personnel twiddling their thumbs, unless they’ve quit, or been transferred.
“and delivery teams, and uncertainty about the outcome of the competition.”
So DE&S Delivery Teams. So sort them out, there has been a Helicopter Delivery Division with various teams in it at Yeovil for decades.
Uncertainty? The RAF need a new medium lift after clever Labour went and cut Puma. What a load of cobblers.
The only uncertainty is introduced by the MoD and HMG themselves. Other companies walked away.
How many billions is Reeves providing in this much vaunted 2.5% then 3% uplift again?
The workforce shortages are not contractor related and refer to the DE@S / MoD teams.
It would seem that given the Leonardo AW149 has won the competition, the Blackhawk was withdrawn from the competition by LM (to old, to expensive, no UK content or wider benefit to the UK economy like every other US acquisition), the Airbus H175M doesn’t exist, the reason for not having proceed is that their is no budget.
Why spend 5yeas plus running a competition, down selecting and not proceeding… a capability gap has been taken, which will now lead to a deletion resulting in the loss of all rotary capability in the UK including support to AW101 and AW159. Good luck with expecting Donald to keep you top of the priority waiting list…
Typical is an often used word in issues like this. I prefer balls up. They have no intention of replacing Puma, but cover it in the usual smoke and mirrors.
Blackhawk would have sufficed, still would. The priority though for MP’s and others is keeping Yoyovil, jobs and votes.
Exactly.
Seconded….
The long-running delay in pressing the go button on NMH is extremely disappointing. It is also pretty hopeless for air and army, which need medium utility lift urgently to replace the Pumas.
It is easy to criticise, but the bottom line is that the RAF has a very limited rotary budget, which stretches to acquiring about 3 Chinooks or up to 8 medium utility helis a year. What it currently faces is the need to replace close to 4 dozen helicopters urgently, to replace the elderly Chinooks, Pumas and Bells withdrawn from service. Basically, the budget is well short to maintain our current helicopter numbers.
First charge on the budget was the 50 Apache rebuilds, which was completed this year. Next was replacing the 8 Bells, with 6 Jupiter HC2s, currently underway. Next carriage on the train is the acquisition of 14 very expensive extended-range Chinooks, which is not yet underway. After that, we finally get a slot for the NMH.
That is all the service can do on the budget they have. There isn’t the cask to run two acquisition programmes at the same time, so replacement is inevitably slow and extended.
As the defence budget increase to 3 and 3.5% of GDP, we have to hope that the backlog of equipment overdue for replacement diminishes.
I fear it won’t, as the MOD civvies are excitedly shoving every available cent into ‘transformation’, which is a great new pastime for them to play with drones and AI/computery things, rather than addressing and resolving the massive equipment gaps caused by years of underfunding and pursuit of extremely expensive niche status kit.
The future rotary budget needs to be increased considerably and I would argue split into two parts, combat rotary and utility rotary. That is the only way we will get a steady 20-year programme of timely replacement of obsolete equipment.
The absence of ring-fenced budgets allows the MOD accountants to hop and skip over any planned service requirements, prioritising this piece of kit over that to save money in the year’s books. Procurement needs to be looking at, planning and budgeting over over each class of equipment, whether combat or transport aircraft, escorts or RFAs, AFVs or PPVs and combat or utility helis. We might then start to approach something resembling a coherent procurement strategy, which we are currently miles away from.
The military helicopter budget comes from the Army (JAC) nothing to do with the RAF. The Army don’t like the RAF, never have and never will. The Navy however got £10,000 for every £1 the RAF got when Merlin came in and the Navy are still getting shit loads of cash for Merlin.
The Leonardo Yeovil web site details the ‘workforce shortages’; a significant number of vacancies for engineers with propulsion, transmission systems, fatigue and industrialisation skills.
The resource shortage refers to DE@S / MoD and not the potential contractor
Thx. RF saw my error too 🙂
Just stop pissing about and order Blackhawk!
From US or Polish production lines, I don’t really care, we would be reciveing the first aircraft by this time next year!
No formal announcement but short of a volte face in the defence industrial strategy the order looks certain to go Leonardo. Govt priorities are UK skills and jobs. They do see some items like sovereign capability in ballistic missiles and binding the US in Nato – hence F-35A and B61- as urgent and important. They made a small buy of H145 and obviously think the remaining Pumas can wait. Maybe we will see their replacement given to the AAC, who knows. The new first lord of the admiralty is a RM. I reckon bigger changes are afoot.
Morning Paul,
I just give up to be honest, I’m sure we will eventually get a pointless handful of fragile, over complex Leonardo helicopters, years late and way over budget!
But, providing a handful of employees in an Italian owned helicopter factory, assembling Italian designed and manufactured helicopters are in work, then its all worth it….
Or we could buy outdated, expensive, US products with no benefit to the UK whatsoever. Fact remains the AW149 beat the other compteitors in the completion ahead of your beloved Blackhawk. But as the UK MoD have no money looks like a capability gap will extend to a full loss of rotary capability in the UK. You will then have what you want as one would expect AW101 and 159 support to be shifted overseas when the facility you detest down in the southwest is closed. At least you will get what you want!
Well, kitty’s got claws!
Why are you so angry on a Sunday Ron?
Work for a certain Italian company by any chance?
Do however tell us about the exhaustive competition the Leonardo plastic fantastic helicopter won though?
Answer, it won’t nothing, thebothers simply withdrew when the numbers required dropped to ‘pointless to proceed’.
Oh, while we are at, tell me what an AW149 can do that an ‘outdated’ Blackhawk can’t.
Tell me, can a composite complex AW149 be shot up with small arms fire, patched up and sent back out inside two hours???
A Blackhawk can and has, over decades of proven rugged service, saving many lives in the process.
I’ll save you the trouble, it can’t…
Carry on ranting…
Hi John, know the feeling. I am not qualified to select military helicopter. Like everyone else I get one vote every 5 years. By nature I have a keep it simple and stupid, if its working don’t fix it approach to life. So I can understand the Black Hawk argument. That said, quite often in life the hard road is one that brings lasting benefits. I just have to assume that there is some grand plan, devised by people above my pay grade; that everything is in hand. 😂
Unfortunately Paul, there is a ‘grand plan’, but it mainly consists of top brass and politicians getting non executive seats on the board of defenc contractors when they retire….
Im sure however it plays ‘no part’ in decision making 😂😂.
The workforce shortages refer to DE&S / MoD and are not related to the contractor. The entire report relates to the authorities ability to acquire any platform and it would seem despite running a ful competition against requiresments set by two colours of political party, MoD and DE&S with one platform coming out on top and order can’t or won’t be placed
The workforce shortages refer to DE&S / MoD and are not related to the contractor. The entire report relates to the authorities ability to acquire any platform and it would seem despite running a ful competition against requiresments set by two colours of political party, MoD and DE&S with one platform coming out on top and order can’t or won’t be placed
Thx. I can see how such shortages would be ‘global’ i.e. hold up all procurement. I might have been adding 2+2 and getting 5. I saw the job vacancies on the Leonardo web site that look like they would hold up projects.
Too big a discussion topic for here John. Sadly much of the UK establishment has about it the social and psychological character of an ingrowing toe nail.
I’m curious but do other countries withdraw an aircraft type or ship without the replacement ordered or ready to enter service?
The Hercules prematurely withdrawn with the promised additional Atlas’s not ordered and the Hercules now sat in Cambridge waiting for a new owner, the Sentry withdrawn & part of the fleet sold to Chile & the US & one of the three replacements has just started being tested and the still capable Puma withdrawn with, if any replacement years away.
If we can’t manage these relatively cheap projects, buying products that already exist admittedly with the participation of British industry how the hell are we going to manage building a fleet of 12 x bespoke attack submarines on time & on budget?
It not as if this the first time this happened look as fiasco when we tried building the Nimrod AEW & then Nimrod MR4.
Interesting comments.
The Blackhawk argument wasnt won back in the late 80’s/90’s and wont be now, 35 years later. I suggest a different violin is played on that one.
Posters would do better to look at where the current UK government (and previous adminsitrations) ‘spend’ taxpayers cash. Despite the noise, defense sepnding is a pitance compared to the NHS, Overseas aid and the benefits culture.