Leonardo chief executive Roberto Cingolani has given the clearest indication yet that the company’s AW149 platform has been selected by the UK for its New Medium Helicopter (NMH) requirement.
Briefing analysts on the aerospace and defence group’s full-year results on 25 February, Cingolani said he anticipated being able to disclose more detail on NMH in the coming days.
Noting that he was “bound for 24 hours due to confidentiality issues”, Cingolani told an analyst that if he had the “patience to wait… we are going to talk more”.
“We have been working very, very intensively with our UK branch and with the UK government,” he says.
“Let’s wait one or two days and things will become clearer,” he adds.
Leonardo’s best and final offer for the NMH requirement expires on 1 March, but should it be picked as the winner, that deadline will be extended until the end of the month to allow the contract to be finalised.
The government had earlier in February promised that it would not let the offer “time out” without making a decision.
Should the deal proceed, Leonardo has promised to build the AW149 at its UK plant in Yeovil in southwest England.
But that facility is in dire need of new assembly work, having seen interest dwindle in its mainstay programmes, the AW101 and AW159 Wildcat.
And during the company’s third-quarter earnings briefing last November, Cingolani had warned that without a large contract like NMH Yeovil’s future was in doubt.
Cingolani says Leonardo’s continued presence in the UK, and the government’s commitment to it, was critical to both the company and “the future of continental defence”.
“This will be reflected in the forthcoming discussions and I am very, very optimistic,” he adds.
