UK taps Leonardo for $1.3 billion medium-lift helicopter deal

ROME — The U.K. will hand Leonardo a £1 billion ($1.34 billion) contract to build 23 AW149 helicopters at the firm’s Yeovil plant in the U.K., the British Ministry of Defense said on Monday, ending months of uncertainty over the program.

The deal for the medium-lift helicopters will help save 3,300 jobs at Yeovil — the U.K.’s last helicopter manufacturing facility — the ministry said.

“Thousands of skilled British jobs have been secured with a major helicopter deal that will boost the U.K. Armed Forces’ battlefield kit and makes Britain Leonardo’s global centre for military helicopter production and exports,” the ministry claimed in a statement on Monday.

Italy’s Leonardo, which operates Yeovil, previously said that if the much-delayed deal was called off amid funding uncertainty, the site risked closure.

In its statement, the defense ministry added that since Yeovil was now tasked with building the U.K. order of the AW149, export orders would follow.

“There are around 20 countries with requirements for new medium-lift helicopters (NMH). Together with Leonardo’s other helicopters, international orders for NMH could generate over £15 billion in exports over the next 10 years,” the ministry said.

The 3,300 jobs secured by keeping Yeovil open included 650 working on the NMH and others involved in support for the U.K.’s Merlin and Wildcat helicopter fleets.

That added to 12,000 supply chain jobs in the U.K., said Nigel Colman, Managing Director of Helicopters U.K., Leonardo.

The deal to keep Yeovil open appears to have been helped by the work underway there on Leonardo’s unmanned rotary wing platform Proteus.

“The £1 billion deal will also make Yeovil the centre of excellence for military helicopter autonomy, as the Ministry of Defence invests further in Proteus — the UK’s first autonomous uncrewed air system which is built by Leonardo and recently undertook its first flight,” the ministry said, adding that the platform has “demonstrated it can conduct a range of missions including anti-submarine warfare.”

The ministry added, “The development of uncrewed and autonomous technology in the U.K. is at the heart of the government’s Defence Industrial Strategy and could offer the opportunity to make platforms such as NMH optionally-crewed.”

Defence Secretary John Healey called the deal, “a major vote of confidence in British industry, British workers and British innovation.”

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——英国国防部周一表示，英国将授予莱昂纳多公司一份价值 10 亿英镑（13.4 亿美元）的合同，由该公司在英国约维尔的工厂建造 23 架 AW149 直升机，结束了该项目数月来的不确定性。

英国国防部表示，这笔中型直升机的交易将有助于保住约维尔（英国最后一家直升机制造厂）的 3300 个工作岗位。

英国国防部周一在一份声明中声称：“一项重大的直升机交易保障了数千个英国技术工人就业岗位，这将提升英国武装部队的战场装备，并使英国成为莱昂纳多公司全球军用直升机生产和出口中心。”

运营约维尔核电站的意大利莱昂纳多公司此前曾表示，如果由于资金不确定性而取消这项拖延已久的交易，该核电站将面临关闭的风险。

国防部在声明中补充说，由于约维尔现在负责建造英国订购的 AW149 战机，出口订单也将随之而来。

“大约有20个国家对新型中型运输直升机（NMH）有需求。加上莱昂纳多公司的其他直升机，未来10年NMH的国际订单可能带来超过150亿英镑的出口收入，”该部表示。

保留约维尔工厂保住了 3300 个工作岗位，其中包括 650 名在 NMH 工作的员工以及其他参与支持英国梅林和野猫直升机机队的员工。

莱昂纳多直升机英国公司总经理奈杰尔·科尔曼表示，这为英国增加了 12,000 个供应链工作岗位。

让约维尔继续运营的协议似乎得益于莱昂纳多公司在当地开展的无人旋翼平台“普罗透斯”项目。

“这项价值 10 亿英镑的交易还将使约维尔成为军用直升机自主系统的卓越中心，因为国防部正在进一步投资 Proteus——英国首个自主无人空中系统，该系统由莱昂纳多公司制造，最近进行了首次飞行，”国防部表示，并补充说，该平台“已经证明它可以执行一系列任务，包括反潜作战”。

该部补充说：“英国无人和自主技术的发展是政府国防工业战略的核心，并可能为制造像NMH这样的可选有人驾驶平台提供机会。”

国防大臣约翰·希利称这项协议是“对英国工业、英国工人和英国创新投下的重大信任票”。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。