Progress made in pre-concept stage, Ministry of Defence expects concept phase to run over the next three years.
An update has been provided on the NATO Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability programme after Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham, inquired about the status of the project.
“To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress his Department has made on the NATO Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability project.”
James Cartlidge, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, provided an update on the progress made.
Cartlidge explained that the UK has led the NGRC project through the Pre-Concept stage since the signing of the Letter of Intent (LOI) in October 2020. The project advanced to the Concept Phase, which is expected to last three years, following the signing of the NGRC Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 16, 2022.
“Since the signing of the Letter of Intent (LOI) in October 2020, the UK has guided the NATO Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC) project through the Pre-Concept stage. The NGRC Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed on 16 June 2022, marked the transition of the project to the Concept Phase which is expected to run over the next three years.”
The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) established the NGRC program office in November 2022. The office is currently drafting the Statements of Work and contracts for the initial concept studies. The Army, DSTL, and Defence Equipment and Support hold key positions within the Program Office, Steering Board, and Partnership Committee.
“The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) run NGRC program office was stood up in November 2022 and is currently writing the Statements of Work and contracts for the initial concept studies. The Army, DSTL and Defence Equipment and Support have pivotal roles within the Program Office, Steering Board, and Partnership Committee.”
The NGRC project aims to develop a revolutionary rotorcraft that will remain relevant against future threats and serve as a suitable replacement for current fleets of medium helicopters used by the UK and NATO Allies.
“We expect the NATO NGRC project to develop a transformational Next Generation Rotorcraft that will remain relevant against future threats and will be a suitable candidate to replace current fleets of Medium Helicopters in service with the UK and NATO Allies.”
Cartlidge assured that the UK is fully engaged with the NATO NGRC project to explore options for potential replacements across Defence.
“The UK is fully engaged with the NATO NGRC project to develop options for potential replacements across Defence.”
Was the purpose of the update to see how many words you can use to say absolutely nothing?
Sir Humphrey is alive!
…if not feeling quite himself lately.
The update was an answer to a question by an MP, they had to say something, even if the summary was “not a lot”.
That’ll learn ’em to ask dumb questions …
Looks like an MP asked a question and got the answer.
The answer being no change for the current plan.
The rough direction of what they are looking at
maximum cruise speed of 220kt (407km/h) or above and not less than 180kt unrefuelled range in excess of 900nm (1,650km)
maximum take-off weight of 10-17t,
with an internal payload of 2.5t.
Sounds like another golden opportunity to shovel money into the fire on yet another euro rotorcraft disaster….
Can’t we just politely say, no thanks…
Oh great, yet another of the countless concepts that will inevitably lead to nothing actually entering service…
I’m hoping we end up with something NH90 style, smaller than Merlin but larger than lynx that we can procure in numbers across all the services. Then everything else will be drones except for heavy lift.
NH90 Is such a success, save the development money and just buy the license from Bell. jobs a gooden
Not so sure about NH90
I’m not sure if you’re being ironic as the the NH90 has been an utter disaster and is utterly unfit for its purpose….
Surely the ideal path is to create a new Merlin with cost saving features
That’s basically what I mean, NH90 is kind of a two engined Merlin. Standardising the entire mid sized helicopter fleet is the only way we can get something in numbers and would mean every navy helo can do ASW and anti surface work.
No suggestion we buy NH90 but develop something new.
I’m not sure why the U.K. is doing this.
Surely it overlaps with the current New Medium Helicopter (NMH)?
Or is NATO NGRC meant to be the successor to NMH, in which case the (up to) 44 helicopters purchased for NMH will have a service life of ~20 years?
And by that time, the Bell V-280 Valor will already be in service for a number of years with the US Army as their Blackhawk replacement.
Sean agree with you, tiltrotor is probably the future, has the speed, distance and a more comfortable ride in fixed wing mode
NMH is an interim step, I recall, to tide things over until the decision is made about NGRC
So expect NMH to be around for 40+ years 🙂
Agree the Bell V-280 is the future, why not just get onboard? I understand that we have observer status on FLRAA anyway and that Bell could sub-licence.
V-280 can’t hover at 2000m.
NMH is for puma replacement, and some see it as an interim until v-280 is developed enough to be built under licence here.
NGRC is for Merlin replacement.
In addition to the Puma HC2, the NMH is to replace a further three types of helicopter in use – Bell 412 Griffin, Bell 212, Airbus AS365 Dauphin.
I’ve not seen stated anywhere that NATO NGRC is just to replace the Merlin in the U.K., only that is is to provide medium-lift multi-role capabilities. In fact the brief covers those helicopters that are being touted as options for NMH. All of these have been in service for at least a decade, if not decades. Which by 2040 will mean they are very old designs.
The US is purchasing the V280 because they want something which can cover the large distances in the pacific. That’s less of a requirement for that in Europe to justify the cost, complexity and other compromises which is why I suspect european countries will want to replace Super Puma / Merlin / Mi 8s with a more conventional helicopter. as we cannot afford enough conventional helicopters in the Uk it’s hard to imagine is affording enough v280s (the US army is expecting to have fewer V280s then Blackhawks) we should order more Merlin’s (as they are the best ASW helicopter… Read more »
Not true. The US army is intending to replace all its Blackhawks with V-280 and leave the National Guard with Blackhawks, as I understand.
Yes but they won’t replace the Blackhawks on a 1 for 1 basis though as the V280 will be more expensive (offset with the fact it can do more / capability)
The issue from a navel point of view is tilt rotor is not really want you want for small ship flights….flying off a carrier or large deck yes very much..but small ship flight less so good…I cannot find anything anywhere that suggests a tilt rotor will be able to be used as small ship flights.
It may be that the best replacement for naval merlin is new merlins. Has there been any large improvement in helicopters that would benefit the naval helicopter environment? Giving merlin an update to perhaps be cheaper, lighter etc. A joint project with Italy would make sense for newer merlin. It’s got good loiter time, large cabin, ability to fit more crew e.g drone controllers, carry sonar buoys, small drones etc. Built in the U.K. using lots of U.K. equipment, engines etc. Most new ships can operate it easily, a updated new model makes pilot training easier, ground crew etc. Only… Read more »
Indeed the thing about the Merlin and why it’s a very very good small fight ASW asset and all round better that any other navel rotor is that it’s not really a medium lift rotor at all…it’s very very heavy almost a heavy lift rotor….most people forget this or don’t realise, you replace Merlin with a general medium lift rotor that would work for everyone else you fundamentally downgrade the UKs ASW force. Compare Merlin to a standard medium lift ASW rotor like the SH-60, it’s got twice the torpedo load out, around 500km+ more range, has around twice the… Read more »
We might even get a military variant of Leonardo’s Next-Generation Civil Tiltrotor or AW609.
I believe Leonardo have a deal with Bell whereby Bell do military and Leonardo do civilian. So they would have to license to do military.
Gobbledegook at its best.
Decades later…..
Had to read that guff a few times! Basically it says we do want something modern to replace legacy platforms, we’re chucking a bit of money at it, to ensure the can is kicked down the road until another Government has to pay for it, then it will cost a fortune, we will order half of the numbers of platforms we already have, and it will turn out to be wank!…..
I skimmed through most of it once I came to the same conclusion!
What it means is some other government will have to sort it out not us….the advantage of democracy..that ability to leave a big steaming pile for the next lot in.
Is the U.K. actually part of the programme, with plans to build or is this one of the observer status programs?
Something between Leonardo’s AW609 Tiltrotor and Leonardo’s Next-Generation Civil Tiltrotor.