UK Awards Leonardo £1BN New Medium Helicopter Contract for 23 AW149 Aircraft; Yeovil Production Line Secured
London, 2 March 2026
Key points
- UK Ministry of Defence on 2 March confirmed a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) New Medium Helicopter (NMH) contract awarded to Leonardo for 23 AW149 medium-lift helicopters, with production at Leonardo's Yeovil facility in Somerset
- Employment impact: 3,300 jobs sustained at Yeovil, including 650 directly associated with the NMH effort; agreement includes additional funding for the Proteus autonomous helicopter and basis for future export assembly in the UK
- Replaces the RAF's retired Puma fleet and consolidates medium-lift roles; identified medium-lift requirements in 20 countries point to potential international orders over £15 billion over the next ten years
The UK Ministry of Defence on 2 March confirmed a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) New Medium Helicopter contract awarded to Leonardo for 23 AW149 medium-lift helicopters — production at the Yeovil facility in Somerset, which is the sole UK military helicopter manufacturing site — securing 3,300 jobs and consolidating British rotary-wing sovereign capacity for the post-Puma generation.
The contract closes a procurement decision that had been in doubt for months and brings clarity to Leonardo's Yeovil production line, which is the sole UK military helicopter manufacturing site. The 23-aircraft order replaces the RAF's retired Puma fleet and consolidates medium-lift roles across military rotary missions. Employment impact at Yeovil: 3,300 jobs sustained, including 650 directly associated with the NMH effort. The agreement additionally includes funding for the Proteus autonomous helicopter and the basis for possible future export assembly in the UK.
Leonardo has identified medium-lift helicopter requirements in 20 countries; potential international orders for AW149s assembled at Yeovil could exceed £15 billion over the next ten years if domestic UK production carries through to export pull. The AW149 is the medium-lift variant of the AW139 family, configured for multi-role military operations including troop transport, casualty evacuation, search-and-rescue and special operations.
The Yeovil decision converts UK military helicopter production from a single-domestic-programme line into the structural anchor of a potential export-pull model. Whether the AW149 export trajectory materialises depends on the post-contract international procurement window through 2030; the immediate outcome is that the UK retains domestic medium-lift production sovereignty at the moment the rest of the European rotary-wing market is consolidating around Airbus Helicopters and Leonardo. A trajectory first surfaced in Signal No. 4.
Sources: UK Ministry of Defence, Defence Equipment and Support, Leonardo UK.
First reported in Signal No. 4, 27 February 2026.