Leonardo in the community.

On 29 May 2022, the 149th day of the year, we again celebrated ‘149 day’ to celebrate our proposed solution to the UK government’s New Medium Helicopter requirement: the AW149. Our celebrations were rounded-off by announcing the winner of our AW149 Livery Competition. During the contest, we invited school children aged 4-11 to design their livery for our latest generation multi-role helicopter. Alice, from Leweston School in Sherborne, won the competition with her “Sea Rescue” design, and was presented with a model of the AW149, while her school received £500 in book vouchers.

Ahead of 149 Day, we spoke to Mike Overd, Chief Engineer of Military Aircraft, about the unique onshore skillset at our Yeovil site (the UK's only onshore end-to-end capability) and what makes our AW149 the right choice for the UK. We also released our AW149 People video, which showed the passion and skill of the people at our Yeovil site, the Home of British Helicopters.

Also in May, apprentices from our Basildon, Luton, Yeovil, Southampton and Edinburgh sites were invited to the Houses of Parliament by ADS Group, the trade association for the Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space sectors, to meet their constituency MPs and discuss the benefits of their apprenticeships.

Meanwhile, close to our Edinburgh site, we were delighted to sponsor the Inter Services Rugby tournament, which was won by British Army Rugby Union, fending off competition from the RAF and Royal Navy squads.

In Luton, Leonardo was recognised for its commitment to sustainable travel by Modeshift STARS, the Centre of Excellence for the effective delivery of sustainable travel in Education, Business and Community settings, after Systems Graduate, Olyvia Jones, submitted details of the company’s activities.

During Mental Health Awareness Week, continuing our support to the Armed Forces community, we invited British Army veteran and Armed Forces Para Snowsport Team athlete, Troy Conner, to speak to our UK employees about bouncing back from adversity

For the second year running, our employees, suppliers and customers around the globe took part in a company-wide wellbeing challenge: the Leonardo World Tour. Over the course of one week, participants prepared to virtually travel 100,000 km (the distance between all 106 Leonardo global sites) by walking, running, cycling, swimming or any other physical means.

Further afield, we supported AOC Europe in Montpellier, France, ahead of which we welcomed delegates to our Lincoln Training Academy for an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Cyber and Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) networking event. Meanwhile, at the Combined Naval Event (CNE) 2022, we explained to attendees how Leonardo's vision for Force Sensing in a contested and congested environment can help naval commands achieve concepts such as mass, interoperability and interchangeability at sea.

Finally, close to our London Headquarters, a Eurofighter Typhoon commandeered a position in the heart of Leicester Square, as Tom Cruise came to town to promote the Top Gun: Maverick UK premiere.