SME supply chain critical to Leonardo success

Homeland September 6, 2023

Leonardo AW159 Wildcat helicopter conducts successful firings of Martlet LMM

UK supply chain is vital to Leonardo Helicopters, according to recent figures which show the company has spent millions with UK onshore supply chain.

Its UK-based helicopter business is going from strength to strength with a string of recent domestic and export orders. The figures show a spend of nearly £500M with over 650 UK suppliers in 2022. Around 25% of this procurement spend was with over 250 SMEs.

Leonardo says that having an onshore supply chain allows resilience and flexibility in ensuring customers’ needs are met, whilst retaining high-tech UK skills, research, and intellectual property.

Leonardo is one of very few organisations in the world, and the only one in the UK, with an end-to-end helicopter manufacturing capability. This means that Leonardo in Yeovil can design, develop, manufacture, test and certify helicopters, in addition to the provision of subsequent training, support, and upgrades for customers.

Businesses from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland form Leonardo’s onshore supply chain for its latest-generation helicopters. This geographically diverse industrial base provides resilience to the UK helicopter manufacturing market and consistency in supply, built up over decades of support and long-term relationships.

Clive Higgins, Chair and CEO of Leonardo UK, said: “Maintaining Leonardo’s healthy and productive relationships with all of our suppliers is critical to delivering for our customers. We have an established UK-wide supply chain that we have developed for decades, with our helicopters business supporting the UK economy through £500 million purchases. This translates into jobs and skills staying onshore and is critical for the British Armed Forces, who rely on UK industry to provide high-end capabilities for their battlefield needs.”

Adam Clarke, Managing Director of Leonardo Helicopters UK, commented: “If successful with the UK New Medium Helicopter competition, Leonardo will build the AW149 in Yeovil to support MOD requirements and we will leverage our established supply chain that is already supporting the existing in-service aircraft. Utilising our supply chain for new programmes provides customers with a resilient, diverse, and robust supply chain ecosystem, which focuses on British businesses.”

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