When we covered the state of play around the New Medium Helicopter programme back in January, it wasn’t a cheerful read. Leonardo had issued what amounted to an ultimatum to the MoD – sign the contract for the AW149 by the end of March or Yeovil closes – and the Government had spent the best part of two years finding reasons to defer a decision that, on paper, wasn’t complicated. There was one helicopter, one site, one supplier, and a yawning capability gap left by the retirement of the Puma. All that was needed was someone to pick up a pen.
On 2 March 2026, someone finally did.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed a £1 billion contract with Leonardo for 23 AW149 medium-lift helicopters, ending a prolonged period of uncertainty that had put over 3,000 jobs at risk and raised serious questions about the Government’s commitment to sovereign defence industrial capability. It’s the right decision – one that should have been made considerably earlier.
What the UK is getting
The AW149 is a militarised development of the civil AW139 platform, already in service with armed forces across more than 30 countries. It’s a capable, proven helicopter – twin-engine, capable of carrying up to 18 troops in combat configuration, with a maximum take-off weight of around 8,600kg and a range of over 800km. For the UK, the AW149 will replace the RAF’s ageing Puma HC2 fleet and consolidate several other medium-lift helicopter roles currently spread across different platforms.
The contract covers 23 aircraft and four full-mission simulators. With the contract now signed, Leonardo had previously indicated it could deliver to military off-the-shelf standard within 24 months, suggesting the first aircraft could arrive with the RAF in 2028.
What Yeovil actually gets out of this
Beyond the aircraft themselves, the deal represents a genuine industrial commitment. Leonardo has agreed to move its AW149 export production from its facility in Vergiate, Italy to Yeovil, growing the UK workshare to above 40 percent on the programme. That’s a big shift – it positions Yeovil not just as a customer site but as a manufacturing hub capable of supporting both UK orders and future international sales.
The contract secures 3,300 jobs at Leonardo’s Somerset plant, including 650 directly linked to the NMH programme, alongside work supporting the UK’s existing Merlin and Wildcat fleets. The wider supply chain – reportedly around 70 UK companies – benefits too. Nigel Colman, UK Managing Director of Leonardo Helicopters put the jobs in their UK supply chain at 12,000.
There’s also a longer-term play here. Leonardo cited the potential for £15 billion in export revenue over the next decade, with approximately 20 countries currently in the market for a new medium-lift helicopter. A UK-built AW149 with a credible production base is a much more compelling export proposition than one assembled in Italy. The MoD has, albeit slowly, made the right industrial call.
Proteus: Yeovil’s autonomous future
Buried in the announcement was something potentially more significant than the AW149 order itself. The Government confirmed further investment in Proteus – Leonardo’s autonomous rotary-wing uncrewed air system, which recently completed its first flight and has already demonstrated anti-submarine warfare capabilities. Yeovil will become a centre of excellence for helicopter autonomy, with the MoD positioning the site as the UK lead for uncrewed and autonomous rotorcraft technology.
This matters because it gives Yeovil a future beyond NMH. An autonomous helicopter programme with export potential, defence applications across ASW and logistics, and links to the broader autonomous systems agenda that dominated the June 2026 Defence Investment Plan – that’s a more durable industrial foundation than a single helicopter contract, however welcome.
The question that lingers
The contract is signed and the jobs are secured. But it’s worth noting that this saga stretched over two years from the original programme launch in February 2024, during which time Leonardo’s chief executive wrote directly to the Defence Secretary threatening to pull investment from the UK entirely, and Unite was lobbying publicly about the precariousness of multiple defence contracts simultaneously.
That’s not how a country with a serious commitment to sovereign industrial capability should be running its procurement. The eventual outcome is good. The process that got there was not.
