UK orders 23 Leonardo AW149 helicopters under £1 billion New Medium Helicopter program.

The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded a £1 billion contract with Leonardo for 23 AW149 medium-lift helicopters under the New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme.

On March 2, 2026, the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed a £1 billion contract with Leonardo for 23 AW149 medium-lift helicopters under the New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme. The helicopters will be built at Leonardo’s Yeovil facility in Somerset, with deliveries to replace the RAF’s retired Puma fleet and consolidate medium-lift roles. The agreement also includes additional funding for the Proteus autonomous helicopter, supports thousands of jobs, and strengthens the basis for possible future export assembly in the UK.
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Under the New Medium Helicopter framework, the AW149 is intended to assume roles previously carried out by three distinct helicopter types: the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma HC2, the Bell 212, and the Airbus H135 Juno and H145 Jupiter fleets. (Picture source: Leonardo)

As announced by Leonardo on March 2, 2026, the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed the award of a £1 billion contract to Leonardo for 23 AW149 medium-lift helicopters under the New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme, ending a prolonged decision process that had approached the expiry of the current tender on March 1. The aircraft will be built at Leonardo’s Yeovil facility in Somerset, the UK’s only site capable of designing and manufacturing military helicopters end-to-end, and the agreement includes further investment in Proteus, the UK’s first autonomous rotary-wing uncrewed air system developed with the Royal Navy, which completed its first flight at the end of January.

The decision follows earlier delays linked to the Defence Investment Plan and confirms the reduction of the original requirement, which had once indicated up to 44 aircraft, to a final order of 23 after budget and requirement revisions in 2024. The government linked the award to a broader defence spending trajectory reaching 2.6% of GDP from 2027, with £270 billion allocated across this Parliament, and integrated the helicopter purchase into the Strategic Defence Review and Defence Industrial Strategy framework. The contract provides for the construction and delivery of 23 latest-generation AW149 helicopters from Yeovil, with Leonardo identified as the sole remaining bidder after competitors withdrew more than a year earlier.

The award secures immediate production activity at the Somerset facility and establishes the UK as the production location for any future export orders of the AW149 tied to this configuration. Alongside the crewed helicopters, the Ministry of Defence confirmed additional funding for Proteus, an autonomous rotary-wing uncrewed aircraft developed in partnership with the Royal Navy and intended for missions including aspects of anti-submarine warfare. The agreement also creates the basis for exploring optionally-crewed concepts linked to future integration between crewed helicopters and autonomous systems. The decision formalises the continuation of domestic helicopter manufacturing following months of uncertainty, including the cancellation of a planned contract announcement visit shortly before final approval.

The New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme is structured to consolidate several rotary-wing roles into a single aircraft-type capable of replacing multiple ageing fleets, including the Puma helicopters retired earlier this year. The objective is to reduce fleet diversity by assigning missions previously conducted by three different helicopter types to one medium-lift helicopter, thereby concentrating training, maintenance, and logistics chains. The competition was first announced in March 2021, opened formally in February 2024, and narrowed to Leonardo’s AW149 as the only remaining offer before final approval in March 2026. Earlier planning documentation referenced a larger fleet size, but the requirement was revised downward in 2024 following adjustments to defence budgets and priorities.

The selected AW149 is already in service with international operators and under evaluation by other countries, aligning the UK configuration with an existing production baseline. The economic impact of the award centres on employment at Yeovil, where 3,300 jobs are sustained, including 650 directly associated with the NMH effort. Additional personnel are engaged in autonomous systems work and in ongoing manufacture and support of the Merlin and Wildcat fleets, both of which continue to be produced or supported at the site. The programme also supports a UK supply chain comprising nearly 70 companies, maintaining domestic aerospace skills and manufacturing capability. Across the wider Leonardo footprint in the UK, including supply chain dependencies, up to 12,000 jobs are linked to helicopter activity connected to the Yeovil plant.

The UK Ministry of Defence spends nearly £7 billion annually with the defence industry in the South-West, supporting more than 37,000 jobs in the region, placing the NMH decision within a broader industrial ecosystem. Export potential forms a second economic dimension, with projections indicating that international orders for Leonardo military helicopters assembled in Yeovil could exceed £15 billion over the next 10 years. There are identified requirements in 20 countries for new medium-lift helicopters, and the AW149 is positioned to compete for those opportunities with production anchored in the UK. The agreement increases UK workshare above 40% for the aircraft configuration covered by the deal, expanding domestic manufacturing content. Should projected export orders materialise, employment in the South West could rise to 3,900 jobs, representing a 20% increase compared to the current workforce level.

The contract also formalises Yeovil as a centre of excellence for military helicopter autonomy, linking export growth with continued investment in uncrewed rotorcraft development. Leonardo’s Yeovil facility traces its origins to 1915, when it operated under the Westland name, producing fixed-wing aircraft, before transitioning to helicopter manufacturing in the 1950s. In recent decades, the site has specialised in the Merlin and Wildcat helicopters, supporting both domestic fleets and export customers, with the last major UK contract prior to NMH dating back to 2006 for around 60 Wildcat helicopters. The new agreement secures continued helicopter production at a site that had not received a new UK government helicopter order for more than a decade. Yeovil also supports engineering training and apprenticeship pipelines in partnership with local institutions, and Leonardo maintains additional UK sites in Edinburgh, Luton, Basildon, Bristol, Newcastle, Southampton, and Lincoln.

The NMH award stabilises manufacturing continuity while integrating autonomy development through the Proteus unmanned helicopter, which is assembled at the same location. The Leonardo AW149 is a twin-engine military helicopter in the 8.6 tonne maximum take-off weight class, with an overall length of 17.6 m including rotors turning and a fuselage length of 13.0 m. It is powered by two General Electric CT7-2E1 turboshaft engines rated at 2,000 shp each, driving a five-blade fully articulated main rotor and a four-blade tail rotor. The main rotor diameter is 14.6 m, and the aircraft has a height of 4.95 m. Maximum cruise speed is 145 kt, with a maximum speed in level flight of 165 kt, and a typical range of 500 nm, extendable with auxiliary fuel tanks.

The service ceiling is 20,000 ft, and the helicopter is designed to operate in hot and high conditions as well as maritime environments. The cockpit features a digital glass architecture with four large multi-function displays, dual flight management systems, and a four-axis digital automatic flight control system supporting single or dual pilot operations. The avionics suite is compatible with night vision goggles and can integrate secure communications, tactical data links, and identification systems required for NATO interoperability. The cabin has a usable volume of over 12 m³ and can accommodate up to 16 fully equipped troops or up to 18 passengers in high-density configuration. In a medical evacuation layout, the helicopter can carry up to six stretchers plus medical staff, with provision for onboard medical power supply.

An external cargo hook rated at 2,720 kg enables underslung load operations, and the internal payload capacity is 2,850 kg depending on configuration and fuel load. Structurally, the AW149 incorporates crashworthy fuel systems, energy-absorbing landing gear and seats designed to meet military crashworthiness standards. The airframe is fitted with large sliding cabin doors on both sides, each 1.6 m wide, enabling rapid troop deployment, fast-roping, or hoist operations when equipped with the relevant systems. Optional equipment includes ballistic protection panels, self-sealing fuel tanks, and a defensive aids suite with a radar warning receiver, missile warning system, and countermeasure dispensers. The helicopter is certified for operations from unprepared surfaces and naval decks, with folding rotor blades available for shipborne storage.

Under the New Medium Helicopter framework, the AW149 is intended to assume roles previously carried out by three distinct helicopter types, beginning with the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma HC2, which served with the Royal Air Force until its retirement earlier this year and operated in the 7.4 tonne maximum take-off weight class with capacity for up to 16 troops in tactical transport, battlefield lift and humanitarian missions. It is also set to replace the Bell 212, a 5.1 tonne twin-engine utility helicopter deployed in Brunei and Cyprus for overseas garrison support and jungle training operations, thereby removing the need to sustain a separate light twin-engine fleet for geographically limited commitments. In addition, elements of the Airbus Helicopters H135 Juno and H145 Jupiter fleets, used under the UK Military Flying Training System and positioned in the 3 to 3.8 tonne class, are expected to be rationalised within the broader restructuring, particularly where multi-role utility and support tasks overlap.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.