Airbus Helicopters has been selected to supply new helicopters for the UK’s Military Flying Training System (MFTS). It will build 29 H135s and three larger H145s for Ascent, the joint venture between Babcock and Lockheed Martin that is managing the MFTS under a public-private partnership agreed eight years ago.
A new contract awarded to Ascent by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) provides rotary-wing training from April 2018 until 2033 and is worth £1.1 billion. In addition to the new helicopters, the contract provides for new training infrastructure, simulators and more than one-third of the instructors at RAF Shawbury, home of the UK’s Defence Helicopter Flying School (DHFS). Ascent will provide 59 of the 161 instructors for the new system. The DHFS is currently run by FB Heliservices, a subsidiary of Cobham, using AS350 Squirrels and Bell 412 Griffins. Cobham was the losing contender for the new rotary-wing MFTS, having proposed Leonardo-Finmeccanica helicopters, reportedly the AW109 and AW139.
Airbus Helicopters said that its subcontract is worth £500 million ($725 million) over 17 years, including support infrastructure and the initial training of instructors and maintenance personnel. It said that the UK will be the first country to receive Helionix, the advanced avionics kit for the H135. Although the new helicopters for the MFTS will be built at Donauworth in Germany, Airbus Helicopters has a large support hub at Oxford in the UK.
The MoD said that the rotary-wing contract is the final core element of the MFTS to be settled, and brings the total awarded value to £2.8 billion ($4.1 billion). Previous contracts let by Ascent covered fast jet, rear crew and fixed-wing training. UK Minister of State for Defence Procurement Philip Dunne described the MFTS as “a state-of-the-art infrastructure” that will deliver “consistent, world-class training across the board.”