Leonardo will now ship the following stage of the Wildcat Built-in Assist and Coaching (WIST) contract, which confirms the following five-year interval of the 34-year contract initially signed in 2012. This £360 million contract awarded final 12 months marks the continued supply of assist companies for the UK’s fleet of AW159 Wildcat helicopters to the British Armed Forces. The WIST contract features a spares provisioning service, a 3-Yr Scheduled Upkeep service, enhanced technical assist companies together with plane security administration, in addition to delivering artificial and ground-based coaching for each aircrew and maintainers. The contract will maintain over 340 trade jobs, primarily within the South West of England at RNAS Yeovilton the place the Wildcat Coaching Centre and frontline squadrons are positioned and in addition at Leonardo in Yeovil the place the joint Leonardo/Ministry of Defence WIST challenge workplace is positioned.
Simon Jones, VP of Buyer Assist and Coaching at Leonardo Helicopters UK, commented: “The subsequent tranche of the Wildcat Built-in Assist and Coaching (WIST) contract ensures the British Armed Forces have the proper gear, coaching and assist to proceed to fulfill their operational wants. Via collaboration and partnerships, WIST maintains UK rotary wing capabilities onshore via the centre’s cutting-edge applied sciences and a highly-skilled workforce.”
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Defence Minister Jeremy Quin stated: “Wildcat helicopters play a significant position in supporting our Armed Forces via reconnaissance, safety and transport. I’m delighted they’ll proceed to obtain high-quality technical assist and coaching from Leonardo UK.”
The Wildcat helicopter is a key ingredient of the UK’s Provider Strike Group (CSG), offering a multi-role assault functionality because it operates from the frigates and destroyers that accompany the Queen Elizabeth-class plane carriers. The dual-engine AW159 helicopter is a contemporary, multi-role and agile platform utilised for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti-Floor Warfare (ASuW) roles all over the world. The platform lately surpassed 80,000 flight hours throughout its international fleet. In a position to strike with a spread of weapons together with missiles, torpedoes and weapons, throughout the maiden deployment of CSG21 final autumn, the brand new Martlet missile system achieved preliminary working functionality with a profitable check firing from an embarked Wildcat HMA Mk2 within the Bay of Bengal.
So far greater than 70 AW159s in a wide range of roles have been delivered to battlefield and maritime navy operators all over the world, together with the British Military and Royal Navy. In the meantime, the Wildcat AH Mk1 performs a spread of necessary duties for the Military together with reconnaissance, command and management, transportation of troops and gear, in addition to pressure safety with its heavy and general-purpose machine weapons. Versatile, agile and adaptable, as a part of the first Aviation Brigade Fight Group, the Wildcat AH has led the way in which throughout latest deployments to Oman and Estonia in 2021, and Lithuania in 2022. Its functionality shall be considerably elevated over the following few years with the addition of a safe Tactical Information Hyperlink, additional enhancing connectivity throughout the battlefield.
