Aerospace Manufacturing speaks with Leonardo Helicopters UK’s managing director, Adam Clarke about the latest business activities from Yeovil, Somerset.

Leonardo in Yeovil has exported helicopters all over the world for more than eight decades. Customers range from Norway and Canada to Japan and South Korea. The company has 34 customers across 26 countries and supports over 500 aircraft around the globe.

Q) What is the latest on the UK Ministry of Defence’s New Helicopter requirement?

Further to the Invitation to Negotiate for the New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme, which was announced by the UK MOD at the end of February, we are putting forward our AW149 helicopter. It’s a proven, in-service medium multi-role military helicopter, designed this generation for modern battlefield operations. 

It was designed to survive, with its military certification in 2014, the multi-role AW149 began life as an all-new, blank sheet of paper military design, focusing on survivability on the modern battlefield, operations from austere environments and maximising aircraft availability while minimising through-life costs. Today, the AW149’s exacting military-off-the-shelf design underpins its selection by multiple international armed forces.

Leonardo has committed that, if selected, the AW149 build will occur in the UK, and the resulting export products, at the Home of British Helicopters in Yeovil and through its nationwide ‘Team AW149 UK’ supply chain. AW149 work will directly create or sustain a number of highly skilled jobs nationwide and support more than 12,000 helicopters jobs across Leonardo’s established supply chain.

Q) What is Leonardo in Yeovil’s role in the uncrewed market?

In Yeovil, we pride ourselves on being the Home of British Helicopters and, whilst we have a legacy of building and flying helicopters since 1947, we are very much looking to the future. We have teams exploring cutting-edge technologies in the uncrewed domain, as well as crewed-uncrewed teaming across aircraft.

Leonardo’s Future Programmes Group was established in 2022 as a centre of excellence for emerging rotorcraft technologies, and this innovation hub is already proving to be a game-changer for the future of helicopter design and development.

The AW149 helicopter is designed for modern battlefield operations

The team’s initial focus has been project Proteus, the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Technology Development Programme (TDP), which is looking into the future of military maritime vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) systems, and work is being carried out at pace to deliver this collaborative project alongside the MOD.

Last year, Leonardo and the MOD unveiled a conceptually mature design, a 2-3t technology demonstrator based on a single main rotor design with the ambition for this demonstrator to take flight next year.

Q) Please can you share more on programmes and opportunities from Leonardo in Yeovil?

Innovation is key for us here in Somerset, further seen through the recent Norwegian AW101 All-Weather Search and Rescue helicopter undertaking high altitude trials in the United States demonstrating an increase in engine power and raise in the Main Gear Box torque rating.

The AW101 helicopter has achieved certification of the 117% increased take-off power from the Directorate for Air Armaments and Airworthiness (DAAA) of the Italian Secretariat General of Defence/National Armaments Directorate. The new certification confirmed Leonardo’s test evidence that the engines, control systems, main gearbox (MGB) and flight envelope expansion are approved at a higher MGB torque, up from 112%. This is the most significant upgrade to the AW101 since the introduction of General Electric CT7 engines to the platform in the mid-2000s.

This marks the final delivery of a substantial Leonardo investment bringing a host of benefits to the AW101: increased take-off payload, radius of operation, ease of flight handling, expanded at-altitude operations, a reduced maintenance burden, safe landing and recovery techniques in the event of an engine failure, and flight envelope expansion enabling the AW101 to take-off and land safely from more challenging places than ever. Fielded with one customer already and design embodiment underway with a second, other AW101 customers with GE engines can now realise the 117% potential at the mid-life upgrade stage.

Furthermore, within the AW101 family, we are proud to be leading the Cormorant Mid-Life Upgrade programme, with the support of the Team Cormorant partners, including IMP Aerospace & Defence, CAE, GE Canada and Collins Aerospace Canada. The project focusses on the upgrade of 13 existing CH-149 Cormorant Search and Rescue helicopters and the augmentation of a further three aircraft, delivering greater capabilities and extending fleet life expectancy to 2042-plus.

Leonardo is the only company in the UK with an end-to-end helicopter manufacturing capability

It will also include state-of-the-art avionics, a new glass cockpit, more powerful digitally controlled engines, wireless in-cabin communications, the latest SAR sensors, including an Electro Optical Infra-Red device and a Mobile Phone Detection Location System. In addition to further opportunities to export the AW101 and AW159, international orders show just how desirable the helicopters we build here in Yeovil, Somerset are to operators around the world. Customers from East to West want these military aircraft in their fleets, serving their nations. The solid foundation of our AW101 and AW159 order books will allow us to attract more talent and further invest in STEM opportunities for the next generation of engineers that choose a career at the UK’s only helicopter manufacturer.

Q) How does Leonardo contribute to UK prosperity?

Leonardo is one of very few organisations in the world, and the only one in the UK, with an end-to-end helicopter manufacturing capability. This means that Leonardo in Yeovil can design, develop, manufacture, test and certify helicopters, in addition to the provision of subsequent training, support, and upgrades for customers.

Businesses from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland form Leonardo’s onshore supply chain for its latest-generation helicopters. This geographically diverse industrial base provides resilience to the UK helicopter manufacturing market and consistency in supply, built up over decades of support and long-term relationships.

The breadth and depth of the supply chain covers cutting-edge UK research and manufacturing in defensive aids systems, tactical radars, cockpit display systems, tactical processors through to engineered composite materials and precision machined parts, castings and forgings. Having suppliers across the Union, from Belfast to Edinburgh to Gosport, enables Leonardo to provide the very best products and services to the UK Ministry of Defence and international customers, from Norway to the Republic of South Korea, with the support of a resilient supply chain ecosystem.

Maintaining Leonardo's healthy and productive relationships with all of our suppliers is critical to delivering for our customers. We have an established UK-wide supply chain that we have developed for decades, with our helicopters business supporting the UK economy through £500 million purchases. This translates into jobs and skills staying onshore and is critical for the British Armed Forces, who rely on UK industry to provide high-end capabilities for their battlefield needs.

Leonardo will be exhibiting at the Farnborough Airshow in Chalet B010.

https://uk.leonardo.com