Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus and Leonardo will compete for a $1.15 billion contract to produce a new helicopter

The U.K. Ministry of Defense has selected four aerospace giants to participate in a competition to develop a new medium helicopter.

Here's What We Know

The program is called New Medium Helicopter (NMH). Four major companies - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus and Leonardo - will compete for the $1.15 billion contract. They were able to successfully pass the pre-qualification process last week, unlike Bell and AceHawk Aerospace.

All four companies are pending the announcement of a full list of requirements. The U.K. Department of Defense is expected to make the manufacturers aware of the criteria early next year.

The NMH-developed aircraft will replace the Puma HC2, Bell 212HP AH1 and AS365N3 Dauphin helicopters. The UK Ministry of Defence plans to purchase no more than 44 new helicopters by 2025.

Black Hawk / Grey Wolf / H175M / AQ149

Lockheed Martin offers its S-70M Black Hawk and Boeing is betting on the MH-139 Grey Wolf. As for Airbus and Leonardo, they have H175M and AQ149 helicopters in their "catalog" respectively.

Source: The Defense Post