The Somerset town of Yeovil’s official recognition as being the Home of British Helicopters may, after 108 years of existence and close to eight years manufacturing helicopters, have been rather a long time coming but at the very least the hope is that it will bring Yeovil and Leonardo Helicopters (perhaps still better known to those who work and live there as Westland) into the public eye and will play some part in attracting even more young people from across the UK to work in what I can only say from having previously visiting this extremely interesting and well-run company on many occasions in the past, a varied, and exciting workplace located in the heart of the South West. here in the heart of the important South West Region of the UK.
For the past 108 years the small but important town of Yeovil has not only played a fundamental role in UK defence through RNAS Yeovilton being one of two principal Royal Navy air bases but also being the centre of excellence for Westland Helicopters which, following the sale of its 50% share of AgustaWestland to Leonardo in July 2004.
During the Great War, the Westland Yeovil factory built around 1,100 aircraft – including seaplanes, bombers and a range of other military fixed wing aircraft. Today, the same massive and highly invested site at Yeovil is home to Leonardo Helicopters, a company whose Leonardo UK parent provides a vital role in supplying highly specialist electronics and radar equipment from sovereign manufacturing locations spread across the UK.
Today the Leonardo Helicopters Yeovil site hosts design and manufacturing of cutting-edge rotary helicopter capability both for the UK military forces and exports including manufacturing and supporting AW101 ‘Merlin’ and AW159 Wildcat helicopters in service with UK forces.
How many UK aircraft businesses, I wonder, have their roots in the High Street of the town or city that, albeit on a very much larger site, 108 years later they are still operating? Not that many I venture to suggest! Although many nods to the history of the Yeovil manufacturing site survive to this day, such as its WWII-era test pilot’s office, the Yeovil site has a formidable history. The detail and history of the Westland Aircraft is extremely well documented in a book published in 1991 by Derek N James – Westland Aircraft – and while there are perhaps many names that have been very successfully associated with the company none stand out more perhaps than those of the founders – Percival Waddams Petter and his brother, Sir Ernest Willoughby Petter.
What is now Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil has been exporting helicopters all over the world now for more than eight decades. The AW101 which was a joint venture between GKN and Agusta, the latter having long been a subsidiary of the Italian based Leonardo (formally known as Finmeccanica) company. Still in production, the AW101 and which aircraft your scribe has flown many hours has customers ranging from Norway and Canada to Japan and South Korea.
The Yeovil site today lists 34 customers across 26 countries and supporting over 500 predominantly military, SARS or other specialist rotary capability aircraft around the globe. As the company itself states, this would not be possible without continuous investment in specialist skills and facilities on-site as well as the company’s extensive cross-UK supply chain.
Underpinning all of this success are the highly-skilled people that work at Leonardo in Yeovil and at partner sites from Wattisham Airfield and RNAS Culdrose to RNAS Yeovilton. With more than 3,000 employees on-site, Leonardo is engaging through Yeovil College and STEM outreach programmes across the region to inspire and attract the next generation of British helicopter apprentices, engineers, and businesspeople into the domain.
With an eye towards the next 100 years, Leonardo understands that maintaining and expanding its skills base, cutting-edge research and specialist facilities will be critical to maintaining the UK’s ability to compete in international competitions and enabling the UK to join global helicopter development partnerships.
Along with announcing the continued support and recognition of the people of Yeovil, Leonardo has today also published the 2022 supply chain spending figures for its UK-based helicopter business. The Leonardo Yeovil site is hugely important UK sovereign manufacturing capability and I sincerely hope that this government and its successors recognise the crucial value that it provides not only in respect of UK defence, skills and employment but in our future.
The supply chain figures undoubtedly highlight the important role the company plays in generating UK prosperity through the spread of the 750 companies in its supply chain.
With a strong order book for its Yeovil-based business, and as the UK MOD and international customers’ demands for the company’s helicopters and the missions they undertake evolve, having an onshore supply chain also allows resilience and flexibility in ensuring customers’ needs are met, whilst retaining high-tech UK skills, research, and intellectual property.
The Supply Chain figures published today show:
In 2022, Leonardo’s procurement spend in Yeovil was £474 million with its UK supply chain
This was spent with 665 suppliers
Including 25% with 250 small and medium-enterprises (SMEs)
Nearly 40% with suppliers located in the 10% most deprived Local Authorities in England, as defined by the UK
Leonardo’s UK helicopter business helps sustain around 12,000 British engineering and manufacturing jobs
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.
The breadth and depth of the supply chain covers cutting-edge UK research and manufacturing in defensive aids systems, tactical radars, cockpit display systems, tactical processors through to engineered composite materials and precision machined parts, castings and forgings.
Having suppliers across the Union, from Belfast to Edinburgh to Gosport, enables Leonardo to provide the very best products and services to the UK Ministry of Defence and international customers, from Norway to the Republic of South Korea, with the support of a resilient supply chain ecosystem.
After 108 years of almost continuous success, here’s to the next 108 years of Leonardo Helicopters here in the UK.
CHW (London – 22nd August 2023)
Howard Wheeldon FRAeS
Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd,
M: +44 7710 779785
Skype: chwheeldon
@AirSeaRescue