Senior Unite trade union representatives have written to the Prime Minister urging the government to commit to building the UK’s future medium lift helicopters at Leonardo’s Yeovil facility, warning that further delays risk permanent damage to Britain’s rotary-wing manufacturing capability, according to the union.
The letter follows an Urgent Question raised in Parliament on the Medium Lift Helicopter programme and responds to government confirmation that the project will be included in the forthcoming Defence Investment Plan. Unite said that while inclusion is welcome, delaying firm procurement decisions until March would come too late for the Yeovil site.
In the letter, union representatives described Leonardo Yeovil as the UK’s last remaining facility capable of designing, manufacturing and sustaining military helicopters. They said the site supports a highly skilled, unionised workforce and an extensive national supply chain that contributes significant economic value beyond the immediate workforce.
The union warned that postponing a procurement decision risks the loss of specialist skills and the dispersal of experienced engineers, which it said would be extremely difficult to rebuild once lost. The letter argues that such an outcome would leave the UK increasingly reliant on overseas suppliers for a core military capability, with higher long-term costs and reduced operational resilience.
The representatives also linked the helicopter decision to wider concerns across the UK defence aerospace sector. While welcoming the recent Typhoon export order, the letter states that exports alone are not sufficient to sustain long-term fast-jet manufacturing capacity without further domestic orders.
Unite said a UK Typhoon commitment would help secure production at Warton and Samlesbury, protect jobs at Rolls-Royce and MBDA, and maintain national control over weapons integration and security of supply.
In the letter, the union argued that defence procurement choices carry both economic and strategic consequences, particularly amid increased geopolitical instability. The representatives said investment decisions should strengthen domestic industrial capability rather than risk its erosion through delay.
The letter concludes by calling on the Prime Minister to act urgently, urging a timely commitment to the Medium Lift Helicopter programme at Leonardo Yeovil alongside a clear pathway to sustain the UK’s combat air manufacturing base.
The correspondence was signed by Ben Clarke, Unite convenor at Leonardo Helicopters Yeovil, Steve McGuinness of Unite’s Executive Council for Aerospace and Shipbuilding, Jed Ellis of Unite’s Executive Council for the Southwest Region, and senior trade union representatives from across the UK defence sector.
There are vast sums of money involved here.
One problem Is the Vast amount of money It costs to produced these.
This vast amount of money affects every part of this process.
Wages and pensions are also a big part of the vast amounts.
Having said that, I hope we place an order soon.
McGuinness and Ellis, both Socialist unite the left members, supported for their position by the Socialist workers party, now both arguing for the contracts for work that the Socialist workers party who supported them dislike and disagree with! Less time at refugee welcome rallies, more time at work please. And wrong choice of helicopter, anyone with a moments service know that, and know it’s just about jobs, not capability or effectiveness, or even cost!
I’ve no idea of the helo is what the Forces actually need or want but they are correct about more Typhoon orders and there should be rapid integration of an OTS anti ship and SEAD missile. Gaps need filling and quickly.
Tbh David it should be about expediency and numbers at this current moment. Quite easily get 30 plus Black Hawk, with a number of SF versions that are used by 160 SOAR. Having a gold plated small number of medium support platforms promised “in the near future” purely to keep 300 people on a job doesn’t get troops on the ground or into battle! However, as some may say, and I do agree, the US is becoming a little concerning in its attitude to NATO and the purchase of another US platform may not be the best choice at this moment!
But didn’t the Polish company that offered the BH pull out?
To be fair, If Leonardo pulled the plug on Yeovil, It would be more than 300 people affected.
Another reason to be considered.
Agreed mate I just pulled that number out of my butt, appreciate supply chains and all the other logistics and maintenance etc will be affected, but you get my meaning 👌
Yes, I gathered that, It was just that others on here might just not know of the employment and associated people numbers Involved. It’s also pretty much the biggest provider of wealth In Yeovil Itself so a great loss would be felt throughout the area. Which takes us all back to the 1980’s again with the Heseltine Saga.
(I still have friends there).
I remember visiting the museum as a kid and I’m sure an air show there in the 70s 👌
Anything to be said for ordering Blackhawks for NMH, then put in an order for new Merlins for the Navy? The current cabs must be getting on a bit, and as it’s still the best ASW helicopter on the market with no obvious replacement on the horizon, a new order for those now alongside Proteus could hopefully guarantee work at Yeovil for the foreseeable as well as giving the RAF/Army the medium lift helicopter of choice and (that rarest of things) add a bit of longterm succession planning for a key piece of ASW kit.
Hopefully it would be cheaper to buy existing in-production aircraft than setting up a new line for AW149…
Spot on Airborne, spot on…
You only have to take a very quick look at Merlin HC3’s service in Afghanistan, to see what a very poor choice the AW149 would be..
Ive said it before, what’s needed is a Tonka tough airborne builders Transit, we don’t need a top of the range Mercedes mini bus with with every conceivable extra….
But, as ever, the tail wags the dog…
Agreed mate, something tough, already in use, with capability updates and ease of supply chain, Black Hawk transit version for me mate!
Mate. Just when do this shambles of a government give a **** about what heli the military actually wants. And have wanted for years.
And that goes for the previous rabble as well.
It’s all about jobs and money to the MIC, they don’t give a toss about the military.
That needs to change.
Spot on mate!
Hi Daniele – a small observation from me re you current PM (and our current NZ PM). Both have a capacity to gather large numbers of words together that, combined, manage to be entirely devoid of meaning.
My assessment of the state of the UK nation: “Never in the field of politics were so many served so poorly by so few”. With my sincerest apologies to Winston Churchill for plagiarising his eloquent speech.
It’s very true, Chris.
To be fair, these charlatans are simply the latest of a long line.
Labour, Tory, same arse, different cheeks, I think that’s finally hit home in my country.
Hello John, I’d rate the Turkish built Transit higher than any Mercedes personally. (Based upon many decades of ownership/driving them). 😁
The big question Halfwit, if I shot up both, which one could be patched up first🤣🤣
The transit wouldn’t be patched up, the pilots will fly it till it falls to pieces and keep filling the cockpit window with food wrappers, coffee cups and random paperwork and gloves 🤣
🤣🤣🤣
I would have reservations about driving the Mercedes even If It started !!!! Their build quality just Isn’t great anymore compared to the delightful Tranny !
It Is a known fact that Transits never Die, they just sort of rust away until they can’t move anymore (well that and the bloody Wet Belt Issues!) .
Transits are also driven by “Us normal folk” and not some sort of Egotistical Posing types that all have “DUB” on their personal number plates. (It’s a Van, not a Lamborghini ffs) 😅😅😅
Hi Jon- to be fair , most helos struggled to operate in those hot ‘n high conditions. Spot on re your comments on the AW149 though.
Hi Chris, its more the ability of a composite airframe to absorb damage and be rapidly patched up and turned around.
Aah, that makes sense , cheers John.
Ah, Bravo.
By black aHauk, and strange unite who are as anti UK as it gets expect the tax payer to pay more to build things here. The Typhoon thing is right though replace the 20 plus tranch one with up dated ones and get away from buying more from the USA. Pity no carrier variant was ever made though an EW variant is what the UK might need such the Germans have/are building.
It is now time to avoid any purchase of US equipment. Trump only understands money. And? Buying elsewhere rules out caveats ( think the F35 disaster ) I know this present government are totally incompetent, so have all UK government been for the past few decades with regard to defence. Lobbied, then money poured into the MIC without tangible results. I laughed at this article, seeing two far left individuals getting their knickers in a twist? Priceless.
We are truly banjaxed.
F-35 disaster.. comical. What was the last British aircraft with 1500 in service? spitfire?
Hawker Hunter, as far as I could tell.
Not to mention that there were lots of other WW2 aircraft which were built by the thousand, not to know that sort of basic history is odd. Besides, after spending a trillion dollars I’d be pretty mad if there were fewer than 1500 aircraft.
I’d leave Chris to his “American Dream” personally. 😎
I assume you are a Yankee? So go home.
ps “The South was right”
What was the last british jet that we couldn’t put our own weapons on?
Hillarious mate. The sheer irony.
When the Next Gen Rotocraft project (NGRC) concepts reported back in the Autumn, we didn’t learn a lot. Leonardo was teaming up with Bell to offer a 17 ton medium-lift tiltrotor for the mid/late 2030s. Looking at the recent US Army speed-up in the purchase of MV-75 (formerly the V-280 Valor), they are expecting to buy into medium-lift tiltrotors by next year. If that’s our next generation too, are we really thinking of delaying buying medium lift for another decade? Will we reluctantly buy the minimum number of NMH that will keep Yeovil alive until then?
We bought an insufficient platform with Crowsnest because it was seen as interim. I hope we learned the lesson and don’t skimp on NMH in the expectation that NGRC will come to the rescue. Without significant UK effort, even if Leonardo win, the tiltrotors will be built in Italy and Yeovil will just be an Italian assembly plant if it doesn’t close completely.
You only have to look at the complete mess Ajax is in. Stop looking for a different approach and buy something that is tested and proved to work the special forces have asked for Black Hawk so go with a tested Helo
I think the point of this article is being missed here. Yes, “vast” amounts of money are involved and all of it being british tax payers money.
This is about spending british money in country on a machine that is more than capable and in my opinion best in class. It is about saving thousands of british jobs and keeping skills, knowledge and know how in country. Without unions like Unite, all this would have been lost years ago.
People are too quick to jump at who is saying what and not why they are saying it.
If we go with the fans boys choice, we will never move forward as a top class military and will always be at the beck and call of a president that can and will turn on us at the drop of a hat.
If we build first class military machines in this country it is our government’s responsibility to support this by buying British and boosting our economy by doing so.
As the world moves forward, so must we by supporting our own country and people, protecting it from vile dictators.
Yes It’s the “Vast” amounts that stopped Leonardo from building the Apache replacements, they quoted twice as much !
There Is a case for what you say too though.
It’s scandalous how much the DIP has been delayed. The negative impact of this delay far surpasses the damage caused if the Ajax programme has to be written-off. Totally unnecessary.
Totally unnecessary and Ilogical, enough to raise a Vulcan Eyebrow 😁😉
“silence Is golden”
It was never about Ajax.
This government has only one priority and that is massaging the economy to give them a chance of re-election. That means keeping spending down on defence and putting it and other infrastructure spending as far back as possible. All that tosh about being on a war footing was just spin. Welfare spending will keep going up and the money monster that is the NHS will continue to be fed. The government are just praying that the world will come right again once Emperor Trump goes and the North American colonies fall back in with the world order. Pure delusion.
I think the fragility of UK Defence is starting to come home to the Prime Minister courtesy of President Trump. He lasted as Trump’s good buddy for a year, which is par for the course, and longer than Elon managed. Vlad won’t be far behind.
If we have to untangle ourselves from the US, and I believe we should on the military front, even if we can’t in intelligence, it’ll be costly and time consuming. Starmer and Reeves have to get serious about providing the money. That’s at least another £25bn a year to go to UK conventional military capability starting this April, not £6bn a year starting in 2027. Whether we’ll have the time is in the lap of the gods.
OT. How about UK Gov buy a few Merlin from the Wild Fire fighting budget. Devolved nations get to chip in to get access.
Cost of wild fires circa £350,000,000 for 2025.
RN/RAF manage the aircraft and coordinate the use. Pilots get trained in lifting large loads anyway (bambi buckets carry 1000 litres?) UK gets more helicopters from a non MOD budget?
We should never have given up on the Fairey Rotodyne 🙂