Unite has described the government decision to award the New Medium Helicopter contract to the Leonardo Yeovil facility as a tremendous victory for aerospace workers, while renewing calls for full publication and funding of the Defence Investment Plan.
The union, which represents thousands of workers in aerospace and defence, said the decision followed more than a year of campaigning aimed at securing the contract for a UK site. It argues the award safeguards over 10,000 highly skilled roles at Leonardo, across its supply chain and in the wider regional economy.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite has been campaigning for this government to buy British defence for over a year because it is vital for jobs, and skills as well as national security.”
She added: “The Leonardo contract is a tremendous victory for Unite members in Yeovil and across the aerospace sector. Without their commitment, hard work and dedication, it would not be being signed today.”
Graham also criticised the pace of decision-making, stating: “Of course, we are pleased that Rachel Reeves has now listened to Unite on this issue. However, it took way too long to get this done, and we still have to question why workers were left in the dark until the 11th hour.”
Alongside welcoming the helicopter award, Unite is pressing the government to fully fund and publish the Defence Investment Plan, including clarity on future combat air and space programmes.
“It can start by getting the full Defence Investment Plan published, including Typhoons and military satellites made in Britain,” Graham said.
As part of its “back British workers defence” campaign, the union is calling for the replacement of older RAF fighter jets with new Typhoons assembled in Lancashire and equipped with UK-built engines and weapons; continued domestic production of the Skynet military satellite communications system in Portsmouth and Stevenage; and the purchase of additional A400M transport aircraft.
Earlier this week Unite held a rally at Downing Street and submitted a petition of around 10,000 signatures urging ministers to publish the plan and deliver what it terms a British defence dividend.
Funny the Telegraph today was only saying that the Treasury had denied the order till the DIP is done.
Yeah, apparently crap has hit the fan internally this morning with the chancellor getting dragged in and overriding the idiocy from the rest of the treasury, as per the BBC: “The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, did not want the deal to collapse on her watch, because security and growth “were fundamentally connected”, a Treasury source said.”
Basically a realisation of the economic and political fallout that will be had by letting Leonardo collapse in the UK as a result of not getting the contract.
There’s clearly been yet another chaotic U-turn: Healey was due to visit the factory yesterday and cancelled at the last minute; then the announcement comes the day after!
Treasury bean counters had apparently been arguing that as the MoD had ranked the helicopter procurement so low in its risk of priorities it wouldn’t sign off the procurement with Leonardo having been selected as the winner from the procurement exercise months ago. So a ministerial visit to the factory yesterday to announce the order was cancelled at the last minute. However the deadline for approving the bid was the 1st of March and the Chancellor thus overrode the Treasury saying the loss of jobs if the plant closed (3,000 direct and 15,000 in the supply chain) outweighed the cost of the contract. I do wonder if the By-election did factor in to the sudden urgency by the Chancellor though.
I find it odd the Treasury would go against the wishes of the Chancellor. More likely she agreed with her team only for a certain by-election to focus minds on the risk of losing 10,000+ jobs (3,000 at Leonardoe’s plus thousands more in the supply chain) to refocus minds and the spin doctors are dropping the Civil Servants in it to cover Reeve’s back..!
The Treasury really should not be allowed to interfere with the spending departs plans, although to be fair the MoD has had some absolute howlers over the years.
Cheers CR
Wastelands makework
You mean supporting and developing our sovereign defence industry with actual orders… making sure we still have a sovereign rotor capability so we are not dependent on other nations for something as fundamental to our national survival as ASW rotors and drones..
Finmeccanica is not a British company – This helicopter was designed and most of its mechanicals are made outside the UK
The factory is in the Uk the people who build the helicopters are UK citizens.. it’s a Uk capability..it could be taken under state ownership if it was required.
You sound like those people who bought Nissans assembled in Sunderland with a Union Jack on tbe boot and claimed they were ‘British cars’. 🤣
Well, they were made with UK steel by UK workers… so I think of my Nissan as British, because Sunderland is in the UK…! Was it designed here? no… but if you take that view you might as well stop international trade now. And forget your mobile phone, PC, TV and Chinese or Indian take away!
I don’t get this website, did I miss the actual order? Why is a union’s reaction to the order mentioned before telling us what was actually ordered?
Well the Telegraph has an article up saying its not happening due to Revee’s while the BBC has an article up saying it is happening due to her. So I think there’s a bit of “confusion” going on at the moment.
Possibly Reeves questioned the decision because the MOD would rather have spent the £1b on something else, but she was overruled – more votes and better ‘optics’ in Yeovil. Michael Heseltine must have a wry smile on his face 🙂
No it’s now been confirmed at about 3.30 this afternoon… when you consider ifs Friday and the treasury would all be heading home and the procurement option expires on Sunday and essentially Leonardo said it was going to close the factory and end UK sovereign rotor production.. I suspect someone’s got the threaten of a good sacking unless it happened before everyone went home for the weekend…
They’re doing what they can with the information available, which is confused, contradictory and scattered at the moment. Think the UKDJ staff are doing an excellent job given the absolute farce that is defence news vis a vis the DIP and the chaos it is causing
Any numbers?
23 helicopters, approx. £1bn contract value.
Yeah, just saw that on Twitter.
Why 23 and not 24, I wonder? Is it some random wrangling over the H145 purchase?
Guessing they couldn’t fit another one into the billion?
Is the correct answer! £1bn for 44 was cloud cuckoo land accounting. Also the AW149 is overkill for SAR in Cyprus or light Heli duty in Brunei where previously AAC choppers served.
I reckon the Dauphins will soldier on and there might be an option in the contract for 5-6 more AW149 to replace them later
Think thats the number of Puma airframes to replace, not the other types?
I believe the original order was to have been for 44 helicopters, a small cut in numbers was to be expected due to the H145 purchase but not this many.
It’s prime number? Actually I think they are paying on the credit card and will round it up to 24 giving one to charity.
No bulk buy bonus? Buy 24 get one free?
I thought it was for 40 airframes?
Think that got pared back a long time ago.
Cuts dear boy cuts👍
Originally requirement was for 40-44 helicopters to replace 23 Puma and 12 other aircraft but they moved some into a small order for six H145 helicopters and reduced their overall requirement to upto 35 with a budget of £900m to £1.2bn. The bidders all reportedly submitted bids of between 25-30 aircraft with that budget. And today the award was 23 AW149 for £1bn (AW149 was the most capable platform of the three bids).
Thanks for the clarification, but probably still not sufficient airframes!
23 is an absolutely pitiful number.
And a billion for such a meagre amount seems extortionate to me.
Depends what the contract includes… it is a new aircraft type so RAF also needs all the engineering support packages and equipment, mission planning and aircraft mission system programming equipment, training support for all the people needed to run the fleet ahead of in service date, simulator(s), possibly spares for the first few years etc…. difficult to judge value without knowing the details but operating costs often dwarfs per aircraft price tag.
Not really that’s what modern rotors cost.. if you ordered 23 Blackhawks you would pay up to 80million dollars each.
Still seems mad to me, especially when you consider that that’s only slightly less than the price of a Typhoon.
It’s funny perceptions.. because of the actual aircraft themselves the more complex and hard to manufacture are high end rotors.. jets are really far more simple flying machines at heart.. it’s the sensors and combat systems and stealth add up the cost.. it’s why jet trainers are cheap as chips really.
I agree this is a pitiful number. Out of that number barely 10 will be available at any one time – so as a means of moving troops tactically it’s pretty insignificant.
There is currently some confusion as to whether the order will be for 23 or 25 AW149’s – presumably the official announcement expected soon will clarify this.
According to the Telegraph, Reeves and the Treasury were firmly blocking the order as recently as Thursday, but Leonardo refused to extend the validity of their tender beyond 1 March. She had to do a U turn today (Friday) when Unite warned Ministers that the company was planning to announce up to 3000 redundancies at Yeovil as soon as Monday (2 March). To be fair to Leonardo, they are not a charity and can not afford to pay workers to do nothing indefinitely. If Norway had ordered more AW101s as expected last year, that would have helped to plug the gap, but they didn’t.
The government has been using the endless delays is getting the DIP out to justify not placing orders for just about anything, regardless of urgency or the impact on jobs.
I’m only surprised she didn’t wait until the Westland workforce P45s had been sent out. The party for workng people? Don’t make me laugh.
Funny how they don’t have to wait for the DIP to cancel or sell things off, only to actually buy things.
You don’t need money to sell things. Without the DIP the MoD doesn’t know what money it has to spend, and so can’t prioritise effectively it’s purchases.
About time too, now would you care to write the cheque to keep GCAP moving forward.
There was a report only a couple of days ago that Japan is getting impatient because of our delays. I hope that is not bad news!!
I saw it and the Italians are not happy that we are not sharing critical technology. We basically have a summer deadline to avoid an FCAS moment.
An entirely avoidable FCAS moment.
Yes we are engaged in alot of capital hungry programs from AUKUS to Hyoersonics.
We are having to make up for the stupidity of the past
3000 jobs are currently directly employed in the development of GCAP.
The budget is ballooning but to anyone with a brain , this is not a surprise. Tempest is a massive leap in technology but the export potential and the tech spin offs are enormous.
What country in their right mind is going to buy the F47 even if the yanks do try to sell it after Trumps whitehouse rant .
For once U.K. government use your brain. I am not happy with bringing the Saudi in but needs must, I am even less happy bring the Germans in after the shinanigans the caused with Typhoon but if that is what it takes . So be it.
We NEED the jet!
I didn’t know about the Italians. Not good. We have projects beyond what the government is willing to finance, wasting billions on votes for sixteen year olds, local government reorgaisation, benefits, and umpteen other things. All this backed up with delays and cuts. We had a defence review which for all the good it is needn’t have been published and a supposed investment propramme that is now four months late.
We have nearly twenty vessels to complete now and the army re-equipment which has so far achieved very little. The RAF is just waiting, although the MLH order has arrived but when will they get them. Then AUKUS, GCAP, and Trident. Phew. I don’t know how but if defence spending isn’t properly increased rather than the quoting of percentages which are pointless in real terms we are in serious trouble.
Well the next stage agreement was supposed to have been signed off last December. So heading for 3 months late already for whatever reason, the DIP was quoted at some stage but then technology sharing too has been mentioned. To be fair that is always going to be a touchy issue, it was with Turkey on cooperation on their 5th Gen fighter. It does seem this Govt is using as policy delays to signing even ‘agreed in principle’ agreements. Playing a very dangerous game but vision is clearly not one of this Govt’s qualities as we saw with the confused Orbex failure. Don’t think the GCAP partners can afford to allow the project to fail but damaging trust is hardly a positive environment.
Morning , my friend. Would you minrd having a look at my reply to Michael. Saves me typing again ! 😊
Agreed, what really annoys me is that Starmer cannot or will not stand up to Reeves. He is the Prime minister , his instruction to reeves should be , we need to spend this, give me options by Friday how to do this . Instead our Chancellor wears the trousers.
£1b cuts elsewhere then.
This will be trotted out for the next three years and new money spent.
This is really just turning into a game of chicken.
Who will bottle first.
If a factory might close then the cheque book opens. That makes so much sense of a strategic DIP…..not….
I’m now awaiting to hear about the order for Typhoon, once BAE announce the closure is imminent, and the order for more T31 once Babcock announce a deadline….
This is not reactive decision making not at all…..why is my nose growing longer….?
I suspect the treasury was playing a game to force acceptance of the DIP.. accept the DIP as is or we block the order of your helicopters.. essential I think as you say they were playing chicken.. and someone got a kicking when they nearly drove a sovereign capability off a cliff.
Chicken was what lead to the QEC -> River gap and look how well that worked for frigates?
Hi SB It’s not in the same timescales, to try and pull the same trick would be mad. Leonardo was just about out of work on site and in its supply chain the others aren’t. Govan has plenty of work for the next decade, Babcock might start getting scratchy in 2/3 years time but there’s nothing to stop them pitching for MRSS work. BAe in Lancs have F35 work and Typhoon upgrades and new build for the next few years.
Anyway on Tuesday we will find out if any extra pennies Rachel from Accounts has allocated to the MOD budget this year, how many and I’d be unsurprised if she announces how they intend to get to 3% of GDP by end of this Parliament (08/29). She either will or she won’t there isn’t really any middle ground !
It is more similar than you might think.
If T31B2 was ordered there isn’t an incremented design and the long lead items need to be ordered.
Like we both said when the first images came out of the build Babcock are an unknown quantity and regardless of any industrial concerns it would be prudent to await 1st of Class trials. Besides which there are other opportunities such as MRSS block building.
TBH it’s all irrelevant unless there is the funding provided, because without there is nothing other than what’s funded and even that needs extra due to the Black Hole.
My favourite bit of the BBC article being ‘In the 1950s it produced Merlin and Apache helicopters.’
Who proof reads this stuff?
You obviously didnt, the article says the factory switched to producing helicopters in the 50’s and more recently has produced Merlin and Apache helicopters.
Which was edited after my copy and paste directly from the BBC website…so have your £1 back
Was actually edited an hour before your post.
Didn’t say my copy and d paste to UKDJ…
They actually said they got it wrong and changed it…
Fair enough to the BBC then.
Ouch, don’t take prisoners eh.
I’m not a political commentator; however, if the DIP is an example of Starmer’s government, then maybe all the criticism over his leadership is correct. He’s throwing the UK’s security and associated industries under the bus!
I hear he tried to throw himself under the bus but unfortunately it did a U-turn.
The helicopter was the only one left in the running it was either this Helo or nothing everyone else pulled out due to pricing and wasn’t going to proved there Helo for the price UK offered .hope this doesn’t go the same way as Ajax one built every 8 years
Sharon Graham vs Rachel Reeves. Handbags at dawn 😂
……couldn’t resist it. Both very talented ladies.
Is that duelling with handbags?
Shameless misogyny on my part. I’m sure they are both tough enough to take a joke. Let’s just say …Sharon 1 Treasury 0 hope I get off with just a yellow card 🙂
Reminded me of an old spitting image episode.. it had the queen and Mrs Thatcher beating each other with handbags over who was in-charge.
Welcome, of course. BUT why has it taken 20 months to order the helicopter we all knew was the only one in the frame.
Due to cost negotiations obviously. Even single source contracts have negotiations on timelines, deliveries, costs, on shoring, maintenance, numbers, etc etc
Really shouldn’t take the time it did, but they have ben ordered which is a first in itself. Good to see.
Wow, Labour ordered something. 🍾 Oh, only 23.
Treasury got confused by T23…
After the political damage caused to the govt by the Treasury inspired advice to cut the winter fuel allowance it seems that Reeves and Starmer have discovered some political nous genes, and their moxie and have told the Treasury where they get off. Better late than never I suppose. Civil servants advise, elected politicians decide.
It’s getting even more bizarre.. apparently just before 18.00 an MOD spokesperson told one news outlet that apparently no decision has been made on the medium lift rotor..
This seems to be one massive HMG benny hill show and from what can be implied it’s not the political class causing the issues but the MOD and treasury…. In some bizarre “yes minister game”.
All I will say is if the have got 23 rotors for 1 billion that is not a bad deal at 43 million a rotor.. as sales of new black hawks are ranging from 55-80 million dollars each the higher end being small contracts of 12-25.
23 Helicopters for £1 billion?
That’s about the going rate.. Blackhawks come in at 55-80 million dollars a pop depending on contract size.
Jonathan posted like an hour and a half before you breaking it down…
Leonardo threatens, issues deadline. Starmer chickens out.
However chances of the RAF getting M-346’s just nose dived. Politicians are nothing if not petty minded.
I welcome this order as it retains sovereign skills in the UK. However, Leonardo and the government need to get their heads together regarding the next generation of helicopters, just as the US has already done, with higher speeds and longer ranges. Something in the same vein as the Airbus novel high-speed compound concept helicopter.
23 Knock down kits assembled by Wastelands
So, as expected, the “up to 44” was a dead duck.
The 6 HCs for Brunei and Cyprus were always going to reduce the numbers.
A reminder, a decade or more ago 60 Blackhawk were offered for half the price of these 23, so we won’t grumble about numbers will we. 🙄
I hope 33 and 230 Sqns are resurrected.
Spot on DM – I recall you commenting in the past that 44 was very unlikely- seems you called it! Looks like roughly a one for one Puma replacement. Guessing the Dauphins at 658 Squadron AAC will soldier on.
This is another shit show. The NMH programme was announced in 2021 and officially launched in 2022 with plans for up to 44 helicopters and around a £1 billion contract to replace 23 Puma along with Bell 212, Griffon HAR2 and Dauphin fleets under a single type. By early 2024, the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) opened, with Airbus (H175M), Leonardo (AW149) and Lockheed Martin (Black Hawk) expected to bid, but in practice the effective fleet size had been reduced to around 30 helicopters, far below the originally advertised maximum. The MoD then carved out part of the requirement by ordering six H145 separately for Brunei and Cyprus. Shortly before the deadline to bid, both Airbus and Lockheed pulled out — meeting all the UK-specific industrial and delivery requirements on such a small order was simply commercially unviable. That left Leonardo’s AW149 as the only bidder.
So they’ve cut overall numbers to save costs, replaced multiple different helicopters with one design to save costs, and structured the ITN requirements in a way that realistically left only Leonardo able to bid in order to preserve sovereign capability and UK jobs. All three should have made this fairly easy to move forward smoothly — but no, they’ve still managed to mess it up.
Ridiculous, a UK production line for 23 bloody airframes with zero chance of exports, what a stupid waste of limited defence funds..
The tail just keeps wagging that dog.
There ya go.
Well explained.
As always, WHO CARES what the military want or need, it’s all about jobs and the MIC.
Two points, I’m actually pleased that the 6 HCs were bought as this for me was overkill for non deployable roles supporting Akrotiri and SF training in Brueni.
And I saw no reason to get rid of the Dauphins of 658 either, given their niche specialist role.
23 looks an odd number, but it’s not: it’s exactly the number needed to field 2 squadrons of 6 helis, an OCU of 3 and the corresponding number needed to cover maintenance and rotation.
It is a like-for-like numerical replacement for Puma. But oh what a small number. A US armoured infantry division fields 30 frontline helis across 3 squadrons, so needs about 60 per division. Plus a further 20 with Division tasked with C2, EW and medevac. Our numbers are far too small for our forces and also too small for Leonardo, where we are just keeping manufacturing on a drip-feed for a few more years. They are going to need to get out and win some export orders, not just sit waiting for mummy MOD to bring more worms to the nest.
A couple points though:
1) The US Army doctrinally treats helicopters very differently than the UK, or anyone else in Europe does. The rest of NATO tends to view Helicopters in a fire support role rather than a principal manuever arm, while the US views it’s Helicopter forces as a principal manuever formation at the disposal of the Divisional Commander, so like for like Comparisons might be a bit off.
2) The US’s Helicopters attached to an Infantry Division are Army, not Air Force assets, and that’s improtant when you break it down; a typical Ameircan division has a Combat Aviation Brigade of 3 Battalions (obviously varies eg 1st Cavalry has only 2 Aviation Battalions and 4th ID has 4 but typically). Of those three Battalions one is a Attack Battalion of 23 Apache’s. The other is a Assault Battalion, with again 23 Cabs but this time Blackhawks and then a General Utility Battalion with a mix of Blackhawks and Chinooks, about 30 cabs.
3) A lot of the Composition of a US Combat Aviation Brigade would be taken up by AAC Assets (the 2 Apache Regiments and single Wildcat Regiment providing find and fires respectively).
So when you actuallly do the numbers; 2 American divisions are supported by 46 Apaches, 20 Chinooks, and about 80 Blackhawks ([23+20]x2). While Two British Divisions are supported by about 40 Apaches, 20-30 Wildcats, 12 NMH and about 40 Chinooks. US 146 Cabs of all types, UK 112-122. Given the different doctrine this isn’t that huge of a difference.
Thank you, that’s very helpful.
Looks like the trades union driving UK defence policy forward with more vigour than half the cabinet. What a shower of excrement.
It seems that the MP for Yeovil has just got confirmation directly from the MOD that they definitely are infact signing the contract with Leonardo for the Medium rotor…
Britain needs much more than 23 new helicopters. This number is truly pathetic. How does France manage to have over twice the number of helos we can manage? Still this will mean more money for councils to build new council houses for all the deserving illegal migrants.
It doesn’t? France has about 450 Helicopters in it’s armed forces and the UK has about 300.
France has no strategic heavy lift like the UK has hens France needing the RAF help in Africa missions.
29 new really, add the 6 HC145 for 84 Sqn Cyprus and 667 AAC in Brunei. The 14 ER Chinooks replace some of the older Chinook fleet which has already been cut.
But yes, as always, industry takes priority and a paltry 23 new NMH is seen a big win, after the usual fun and games even getting to that amount.
I’ll take it, as there were 24 Puma, around 8 Bells?, and the 5 Dauphin, which thankfully remain.
34 Wildcat. ( 1 AAC, 847 NAS )
50 Apache. ( 3 & 4 AAC )
5 Dauphin. ( 657 AAC )
51 Chinook ( at danger of reducing if HMG do not order more than the 14 ERs ) ( 7,18,27,28 Sqns )
33 H135 Juno. ( Contrator owned, uncertain if number is current ) ( 1 FTS )
5 H145 Jupiter. ( Contractor owned, again, uncertain if current number ) ( 1 FTS )
24 Merlin. ( 845, 846 NAS )
30 Merlin. ( 824, 814, 820 NAS )
28 Wildcat. ( 814, 825 NAS )
6 HC145. ( 84 Sqn, 667 AAC )
1 AW109. ( 32 Sqn )
267 total , plus the incoming 29 new assets so 296, as Dern said. Apologies for any I missed.
Twenty three isn’t enough: nothing like enough. But so bloody predictable.