Aviation Week Forecasts: Leonardo Grows Position In Medium Helicopter Market

Earlier this month the UK government finally announced that the Leonardo AW149 had been selected to fill the Royal Air Force’s and British Army’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) requirement. The £1 billion ($1.35 billion) contract will see 23 of the super-medium utility helicopters delivered as part of efforts to recapitalize and rationalize the UK armed force’s rotary-wing fleet. While the selection of the AW149 has long appeared inevitable since Airbus and Lockheed Martin dropped out of the competition last year, the move will further bolster the AW149’s position in the military transport helicopter market.

At present the military-operated fleet of AW149s is relatively small, numbering 40 aircraft in service with the Egyptian, Polish and Thai armed forces. However, further production deals for Poland, Malaysia, North Macedonia, and now the UK should see this number increase to 104 by the mid-2030s. The broader family of Leonardo helicopters, which includes the AW139, AW149, AW169 and AW189, also is seeing success in the market, with the military-operated fleet projected to reach a total of 467 aircraft in service by 2036 compared with 309 today. By that time they will represent one of the largest families across the intermediate and medium classes, behind only the H225, Huey, Mi-8/17 and S-70/H-60.

Crucially, the new order also will keep production running at Leonardo’s site in Yeovil, England, with the hope that deliveries will continue beyond the 23 ordered this month. There remains scope for more orders from the UK given that the initial requirement stood as high as 44 helicopters and the government is looking at how it can increase its defense budget to 3% of GDP on an expedited basis.

Perhaps more importantly, significant opportunities exist within the global market for the sale of this class of helicopter, with the Yeovil line being lined up for export production if required. Stated opportunities for the supply of 162 medium-class helicopters worth more than $3.3 billion exist within the market over the next decade. Aviation Week analysts have also identified further requirements for 112 helicopters of this class worth an additional $3 billion over the same period.