Airbus defends decision to withdraw from UK’s NMH, says Pumas could fly by 2035 | News

Airbus Helicopters has defended its decision to withdraw from the UK’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) competition without submitting a bid, with one executive criticising a low budget and a perceived failure to deliver on its social value commitments.

Bruno Even, CEO of the French aircraft manufacturer, says that after a detailed evaluation of the tender launched in February by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), “we came to the conclusion that we were unable to formulate an offer” that met the customer’s requirements, “provided a long-term return on investment” and “at the same time gave us a chance to win”.

Airbus Helicopters was shortlisted for the competition alongside Leonardo Helicopters and Sikorsky and was working to submit bids by August 30.

However, just hours before the deadline, both Airbus Helicopters and Sikorsky announced they would not respond to the tender, leaving their Anglo-Italian rival with its AW149 aircraft as the only contender.

Airbus Helicopters proposed the H175M helicopter to meet this need, which was to be built on a new assembly line at Broughton in North Wales, with production from this facility also being intended for the export market.

While Even is relatively diplomatic on the tender, Lenny Brown, managing director of Airbus Helicopters UK, takes a more direct view.

Brown, a former head of Britain’s Commando Helicopter Force, said the budget of 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) earmarked for the purchase of 23-32 aircraft, plus training and support, “was not enough to deliver what they wanted in the time frame they set.”

By comparison, Poland is buying a fleet of 32 AW149s for a total of €1.8 billion ($2 billion), which includes a similar training and support package.

The NMH competition was also intended to showcase the MoD’s commitment to achieving societal and industrial value from defence equipment purchases, but Brown believes the tender fell short of that ambition.

“We couldn’t meet those parameters because of the scoring mechanism,” he says.

It further believes that the tender documents were not precise enough to prevent bidders from “manipulating” the process, particularly in relation to the issue of potential exports from the UK.

Stressing his disappointment that the company felt it could not submit a bid, he added: “We had such a good solution. It did exactly what we said it would do.”

NMH’s selection of the H175M would make the UK the “launch customer for a global export campaign (of the type)” which would see hundreds of the aircraft “exported and supported” from Broughton.

He even emphasizes that the decision to withdraw is not a sign that “we do not believe that the H175M is the right product and we do not believe that we have the right proposition in terms of the industrial configuration,” he said.

“We just note that we are not the only ones who decided to withdraw,” he added, noting that the decision was also made due to “credibility issues” because “we didn’t want to be in a position where we had to commit to something that we felt we couldn’t match.”

The two executives spoke on September 12 at the opening of Airbus Helicopters’ new UK headquarters, a £55 million investment at Oxford Airport.

The NMH programme was initially designed to replace five platforms in service with the UK Army, the largest of which are the 23 Puma HC2s operated by the Royal Air Force.

With the new Labour government currently conducting a Strategic Defence Review and the Ministry of Defence still developing the latest version of its helicopter strategy, there is no guarantee that the order for the attack helicopters will go ahead.

If that happens, the Pumas will have to continue in service beyond 2025, the date they will be withdrawn from service.

It even says the fleet – upgraded to HC2 standard by Airbus Helicopters last decade – “could fly until 2035” if needed.

“We are committed to continuing to support them. We are open to discussion,” he says.

While Even says no changes are required to extend their useful life, Brown says the company has developed an “obsolescence management plan,” though it’s “not massive.”

Indeed, he suggests that even in its current form, the Puma could meet 85% of NMH’s requirements, “but with some modifications it could meet 90% of what NMH asked for.”

The Pumas are currently deployed in Brunei and Cyprus, replacing the retired Bell 212 and 412, which were originally scheduled to be replaced by the winner NMH. However, earlier this year the MoD announced it would instead purchase six H145s to cover these missions.

Squadron Leader Nick Monahan, commander of Puma Force, emphasises that no decision has yet been made on whether to operate the HC2 fleet longer than planned.

“The planned end-of-life date is March 2025, but an option to extend the deadline to September 2026 is still being considered,” he says.

He noted that the Puma is 53 years old but said it “does a great job in both locations because it’s still a great platform.”

That included firefighting missions in Cyprus and conducting “over 40 medical evacuations” in Brunei. “That continues to have an impact around the world,” he says.

However, a “reduction plan” has been drawn up ahead of the arrival of the new H145 helicopters; delivery of the light twin-engine helicopters should take place “soon”, Airbus Helicopters said.