The UK has axed 25% of its existing heavy lift CH-47 Chinook fleet and all 17 Puma HC2 helicopters as a cost-saving measure as part of an astonishing round of defence cuts announced on 20 November, which have raised concerns as to the state of the country’s military capability.
Speaking before the House of Commons on 20 November, Secretary of State for Defence John Healey announced the cuts, the scale of which left defence watchers stunned amid suggestions that it amounts to a level of capability loss last seen in 1982 and 2010, when the UK scrapped key strategic platforms.
Among the announced cuts was the loss of 14 of the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) CH-47 heavy-lift helicopters, amounting to 25% of the entire fleet, and 17 Puma HC2 platforms.
“Labour is the party of defence, and we will make Britain better defended,” Healey told the Commons.
The range of cuts to six “outdated” platforms would save the Ministry of Defence £150m ($189.5m) over the next two years, and up to £500m over the coming five years. Healey said that this money would be retained by the MoD and reinvested.
According to official UK figures, as of December 2022 the country’s military operated 59 Chinooks across the fleet. It is thought that over 50 platforms remained.
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By GlobalDataAn order for 14 new CH-47 Extended Range variants has been signed between the UK and US defence prime Boeing, although the first platforms are not expected to be delivered until 2027 at the earliest.
The UK’s new Labour government has controversially complained of a £22bn black hole in public finances, with the Treasury embarking on a series of austerity-like cuts across all departments, including defence.
It is likely the recently announced cuts to UK defence capabilities has come at the behest of the Treasury, with Healey previously not been drawn on the future of various platforms or programmes that could be impacted by the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which will report in 2025.
“These will not be the last difficult decision we have to take,” Healey warned.
Puma HC2 fleet to leave in March 2025
Alongside the 14 Chinooks, 17 Puma helicopters operated by the British Army will also be cut, a move that not only leaves a capability gap in the service’s wider rotary inventory, but also, a real-time absence of helicopters for deployments in Cyprus and Brunei.
With six new H145 helicopters being acquired from Airbus to operate from Cyprus and Brunei from 2026, the Puma HC2 fleet leaving service in March 2025, a minimum nine-month capability gap has been created for the UK military in these locations, unless an interim arrangement can be agreed through a commercial solution.
This axeing of the Puma fleet and the 2026 arrival of H145 helicopters for UK military deployments in Cyprus and Brunei, has raised some questions about the future of the New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme, with Healey stating in the House of Commons that all defence procurement and force elements were “under consideration” as part of the SDR.
In October, Airforce Technology reported that UK government had gone on the record to state that only Leonardo Helicopters had submitted a tender for the NMH programme, intended to deliver a fleet of around 14 platforms to replace a range of outgoing rotary wing aircraft, including the Puma HC2s.
Responding to a parliamentary query on 8 October 2024, Luke Pollard, Minister for the Armed Forces at the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), confirmed that neither Airbus Helicopters UK nor Lockheed Martin UK had elected to submit a tender, with the only response coming from Leonardo Helicopters UK.
“The New Medium Helicopter competition remains sensitive, and the evaluation and approval process needs to complete before further details, including aircraft numbers, can be confirmed,” Pollard said.
The prospect of a single tender submitted for the NMH, in what is supposed to be a competitive acquisition, has raised questions over the programme. Other competitive acquisitions in the naval sector, such as with the Type 31 frigate, have had to be restarted due to an insufficient number of compliant bids.
