Rotary Wing contracts secure the next major milestone for the UK Military Flying Training System

Contracts announced today worth £1.1 billion pounds have secured the future of the UK military’s rotary wing training.

The £1.1 billion deed of amendment to the over arching UKMFTS contract between the MOD and Ascent will pave the way for the design and delivery of a new rotary wing training service. A contract has been placed with Airbus Helicopters UK Limited to deliver 29 H135 and 3 H145 training aircraft along with through life support. Contracts have also been awarded to Lockheed Martin and Babcock who will deliver the ground based training equipment and infrastructure to support the delivery of the rotary wing training capability.

Initial Course Capability is on track for Quarter 2 2018 and the Ascent training solution will see pilots across the three Services continue to conduct their basic and advanced rotary wing training at RAF Shawbury and Army Air Corps Middle Wallop. Pilots selected for training in mountain and maritime helicopter operations will receive instruction at RAF Valley.

Today’s announcement follows February’s award of a £1.1bn deed of amendment to the UKMFTS contract for Fixed Wing training. Once fully operational in 2019 – this element of the contract will see Ascent deliver training to prepare the next generation of aircrew to operate aircraft such as Voyager, Atlas and F-35 Lightning II. As part of this investment; contracts were placed with Affinity Flying Training Services who will provide three aircraft types to support elementary, basic and multi engine training out to 2033. Lockheed Martin and Babcock are also under contract to deliver ground based training equipment and infrastructure respectively.

Managing Director of Ascent, Paul Livingston said:

“The award of these contracts marks the delivery of two critical milestones for the UKMFTS programme. Modern training aircraft selected specifically to meet the bespoke needs of the UK’s Armed Forces will deliver optimised training alongside high tech simulators and classroom trainers.”