In British helicopter race, war of words emerges over ‘military grade’

LONDON — Executives at helicopter maker Leonardo pushed back against a competitor’s assertion that the Italian company’s AW149 helicopter, in play for the British New Medium Helicopter program, isn’t military-grade enough.

Mike Morrisroe, the company’s lead for U.K. helicopter campaigns, on Wednesday disputed a claim by a Lockheed Martin executive from the previous day at the DSEI arms fair in London that the U.S.-based company’s offering of the Black Hawk was the only one developed purely for military use.

The AW149 meets relevant crashworthiness standards and is built for survivability on the battlefield, with a construction meant to “minimize” the impact of small-arms fire against the cabin and the blades, he said.

Paul Livingston, CEO of Lockheed’s U.K. subsidiary, had illustrated the Black Hawk’s military utility by saying the company’s offering is the only one offering retractable seats capable of withdrawing injured pilots to the helicopter cabin without having to exit the aircraft.

For Leonardo’s Mark Burnand, the company’s chief test pilot, the utility of such a setup is questionable if the helicopter’s self-defense features work properly.

“You’re not going to find yourself in that situation in the first place,” he said.

Leonardo presented itself as a bastion of U.K. helicopter building at the start of DSEI, boasting of £1.6 billion ($2 billion) in exports over the last 18 months including orders for the design, development and manufacture of new aircraft, upgrade programs and support deals.

The firm said the number added to a further £5bn in helicopters exports from the U.K. secured over the preceding nine years.

It’s the only firm with “end-to-end helicopter manufacturing capability” in the country, with more than half of the U.K. military’s frontline fleet starting life at Leonardo’s Yeovil facility in Somerset, England.

No wonder, Leonardo said, that its U.K. onshore helicopters business has recently been granted official status as the “Home of British Helicopters.”

Should its AW149 win the U.K.’s New Medium Helicopter contest, the firm will build the platform at Yeovil and has promised that 60-70% of its content and through-life support would be carried out in the country.

“Investment in skills and research generates valuable U.K. intellectual property and sustains an onshore industrial base that provides” the U.K. Ministry of Defence “with direct access to critical skills and capabilities that underpin operational independence and technological advantage,” it said.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

伦敦——直升机制造商莱昂纳多公司的高管反驳了竞争对手的说法，即该公司正在竞标英国新型中型直升机项目的意大利AW149直升机不够军用级别。

该公司负责英国直升机项目的负责人迈克·莫里斯罗周三反驳了洛克希德·马丁公司一位高管前一天在伦敦DSEI防务展上的说法，即这家美国公司提供的黑鹰直升机是唯一一款完全为军事用途而开发的直升机。

他说，AW149 符合相关的耐撞性标准，并且是为战场上的生存能力而设计的，其结构旨在“最大限度地减少”小型武器射击对座舱和叶片的影响。

洛克希德英国子公司首席执行官保罗·利文斯顿曾用“黑鹰”直升机的军事用途来说明这一点，他说，该公司的产品是唯一一款提供可伸缩座椅的直升机，能够在不离开飞机的情况下将受伤的飞行员送回直升机机舱。

对于莱昂纳多公司的首席试飞员马克·伯纳德来说，如果直升机的自卫功能正常运作，这种设置的实用性就值得怀疑了。

“你一开始就不会让自己陷入那种境地，”他说。

在DSEI防务展开始时，莱昂纳多公司把自己定位为英国直升机制造的堡垒，并吹嘘在过去18个月中出口额达到16亿英镑（20亿美元），其中包括新飞机的设计、开发和制造订单、升级计划和支持协议。

该公司表示，这一数字加上此前九年英国直升机出口额已达 50 亿英镑。

它是英国唯一一家拥有“端到端直升机制造能力”的公司，英国军方一线直升机机队超过一半的直升机都产自莱昂纳多位于英格兰萨默塞特郡约维尔的工厂。

莱昂纳多表示，难怪其在英国的陆上直升机业务最近被授予“英国直升机之家”的官方地位。

如果其 AW149 赢得英国新型中型直升机竞标，该公司将在约维尔建造该平台，并承诺 60-70% 的内容和全寿命周期支持将在英国进行。

声明称：“对技能和研究的投资能够创造宝贵的英国知识产权，并维持本土工业基础，从而为英国国防部提供直接获取关键技能和能力的途径，这些技能和能力是作战独立性和技术优势的基础。”

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。