Leonardo and Morson Projects partnership secures engineering skills in the North of England & Northern Ireland

04 April 2023
  • Leonardo signs long-term contract with Morson Projects to draw on additional engineering capacity as required
  • The Strategic Partnering Agreement enables Morson Projects to sub-contract engineering tasks, not only in Yeovil, Somerset, the ‘Home of British Helicopters’, but to its design offices in Belfast, Hull and Manchester
  • Leonardo and Morson Projects have been working together for more than 20 years, with this contract securing the partnership into its third decade

Leonardo and Morson Projects have signed a long-term Strategic Partnering Agreement (SPA), which will enable the UK’s only onshore helicopter manufacturer to offload engineering work to augment the company’s existing highly skilled engineering capacity.

Further to the contract signing in March, Morson Projects will be managing engineering work at Leonardo’s UK helicopter facility in the South West of England through sub-contractors or through the management of fixed-price packages at one of Morson Project’s UK design offices in Northern Ireland and the North of England, covering Belfast, Manchester and Hull.

Adam Clarke, Managing Director of Leonardo Helicopters UK, commented: “This Strategic Partnering Agreement enables Leonardo and Morson Projects to not only strengthen relations between the two companies, but it also secures engineering work and supply chain resilience across the UK. Furthermore, if we are successful on large contracts like the UK MOD New Medium Helicopter programme, we will have a number of skills available to us to support UK prosperity and our engineering ecosystem.”

Gareth Beck, Operations Director at Morson Projects, added: “The Prime Supplier Status award is the culmination of many successful years of Leonardo and Morson Projects working collaboratively and is testament to the hard work, passion, and commitment of everyone involved. Morson Projects is delighted that we can continue to work with Leonardo’s industry leading products and be at the forefront of capability enhancement.”

Best known for its onshore production of UK military helicopters and cutting-edge electronics on-board Royal Air Force aircraft, Leonardo is one of the biggest suppliers to the UK Ministry of Defence. Leonardo already employs over 8,000 people in the UK and recently opened a new site in Newcastle. This SPA will enable Leonardo to support engineering projects, as required, across the UK beyond its existing company sites. Furthermore, the agreement continues the long-term relationship between Morson Projects and Leonardo into its third decade.

AW149: Versatility for the most demanding missions

AW149: Versatility for the most demanding missions

Military helicopters must be equipped to perform the most demanding missions in the harshest operating environments. The AW149 is the latest generation medium multi-role battlefield platform that delivers the highly effective and survivable capability required by today’s armed forces, combining advanced technologies, equipment and weapons with unparalleled safety and performance characteristics.

Further details about the AW149