Lt. Gen. Robert Magowan did not elaborate further on the replacement effort but did note that the Watchkeeper retirement will allow the MoD to still save "quite a lot of money" that would otherwise go toward support costs for the aircraft.
The double pullout means Leonardo sits as the sole bidder for the £1 billion ($1.3 billion) program, though the surprise withdrawals could also induce London to re-compete it.
As aircraft shrink, threats expand, and technology accelerates, aircraft engines must iterate along with the threats.
On reports that Lockheed might drop out of the NMH competition, Paul Livingston, Lockheed Martin UK CEO, said media "can report I'm dating Taylor Swift, it doesn't mean it's happening."
London said that the review will be completed “in the first half of 2025” and work is to begin right away, “in recognition of the urgency of the threats” it faces.
The comments are the second time in the span of 10 months that industrial officials have publicly revealed a reduced buy from a max of 44 helos is on the table.
The ITN phase is expected to deliver, for the first time, a full breakdown of requirements and costs for industry for the estimated $1.3 billion program.
Explore how networked warfare, AI, and 3D-printed drones are reshaping US Indo-Pacific strategy.
“We haven’t seen training requirements and there’s a whole plethora of different chapters that are yet to come, but the MoD has been as good as they can be in drip feeding us information," said Lenny Brown, Managing Director of Airbus Helicopters UK
New helicopters had been expected to enter service from 2025 onward, but the lack of acquisition targets suggests the birds won't fly until later.
"Clearly the longer these negotiations take…. the harder it is for any defense contractor to be able to then say that they've got a low-risk solution, [especially] if the end date for delivery doesn't move," Adam Clarke, managing director at Leonardo Helicopters UK, told Breaking Defense.
Four competitors are left standing in the UK's New Medium Helicopter program with a future contractor due to reap a lucrative reward of $1.15 billion.
Onshoring and investment in military-specific semiconductors anchor a cornerstone of the defense industrial base.