- The UK has confirmed a timeline for the entry of the NMH fleet between 2030 and 2033
- This timeline comes nine days after Leonardo UK was finally tasked to deliver 23 AW149 medium lift helicopters
- But there are currently too few AW149s being built to fill the capability gap across the armed forces
The UK has confirmed a timeline for the entry of the NMH fleet into service with the British Army and Royal Air Force for the first time.
In a parliamentary written statement on 11 March, the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard said delivery of the first platform is expected in the summer of 2030, followed by its induction in January 2031.
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The final rotorcraft is scheduled for delivery in the autumn of 2033, which is also when the equipment acquisition contract is expected to end.
This timeline comes nine days after the the UK Government officially awarded the £1bn ($1.33bn) contract to Leonardo UK for 23 AW149 medium lift helicopters.
The decision, which had been subject to intense debate within government circles, forcing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to exceed the contract deadline by a day, will continue to prop up the UK’s only end-to-end helicopter builder in the country, preserving 3,300 skilled jobs, 650 of whom will be working directly on the NMH programme at the Yeovil plant.
Strapped for cash and dragging its heels in putting together a comprehensive cost breakdown in the Defence Investment Plan, the MoD has kept Leonardo on tenterhooks for 18 months as the sole tender for the programme.
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By GlobalDataProblems reconstituting UK military helicopters
It should be understood, however, that there are still too few AW149s. A contract for the 23 units will only help to replace Puma HC2 alone, a fleet of helicopters that retired last year. Even then, the British military will face a six year capability gap.
Other ageing units in service in need of a replacement include the Eurocopter AS365 and Bell 212, which the Puma had replaced until the UK Government bought six H145s from Airbus in 2024.
Last year, the UK also awarded Airbus a two-year contract to support and maintain these six H145 units for the RAF’s 84 Squadron in Cyprus and 667 Squadron of the Army Air Corps in Brunei.
The H145 fleet will be “in-theatre” by the end of June 2026, according to an update from the British defence procurement arm DE&S on 15 December 2025.
