UK Helicopter Delay Raises Concerns over Industrial Base

UK helicopter delay raises concerns over industrial base

Questions over the future of the new medium lift helicopter programme were raised in Parliament today, amid warnings that continued uncertainty could undermine sovereign aerospace capability and the defence supply chain. Speaking in the Commons, Defence Select Committee chair Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi said defence small and medium-sized enterprises remained essential to national security and warned that indecision risked damaging the UK’s ability t…

UK delays medium helicopter decision, Yeovil plant at risk

Britain’s last remaining military helicopter production line is again at the center of a Whitehall fight, as the UK government delays a decision on the New Medium Helicopter program, a roughly £1 billion effort to replace the Royal Air Force’s aging Puma HC2 transport helicopters.According to The Sunday Times, the contract and the future of Leonardo’s Yeovil site in southwest England have become the subject of a cabinet-level dispute, with minis…