Royal Air Force AW149 Ordered

The UK Ministry of Defence awarded Leonardo a contract worth about 1 billion pounds for 23 AW149 multirole helicopters on 2 March 2026, Breaking Defense reported. The aircraft will be built at Yeovil and take over tasks previously split between three types, chiefly those of the 23 Puma HC2 retired in March 2025, as well as the Bell 212, Bell 412 and AS365 Dauphin fleets. The delivery timeline was not disclosed at signature.