Major defence firms line up for $2b helicopter spend

Saturday, 10 May 2025

When Prime Minister Christopher Luxon headed from London to an undisclosed location to survey the training of Ukrainian troops last month, he hitched a right in a British air force Wildcat helicopter.

Waiting at the military base was UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. After surveying trench warfare exercises and meeting the troops, the pair donned flight helmets and headed back to London in the Wildcat for a more formal meeting.

Spending more than five hours with Starmer was notable. What wasn’t obvious in the moment: Luxon had inadvertently been given a first-hand sales pitch for the Wildcat.

The British-Italian manufacturer of the Wildcat, a firm called Leonardo, is among the defence firms vying for the New Zealand Government’s $2 billion spend on new navy helicopters.

Luxon a week ago confirmed the Government would soon replace the navy’s fleet of eight worn-out Seasprite helicopters (five of which are operational) with five new helicopters, marking out the first large capital spend of the Government’s new Defence Capability Plan.

The $2b price tag will cover the capital cost of five new helicopters, its associated hardware, and operational and crew costs for the coming four years. How much will be allocated at the Budget later this month is yet to be seen -- the Government has yet to produce a business case for the purchase.

The existing Seasprite fleet was acquired in 2015 at discount due to Australia cancelling its order for the aircraft. These marine helicopters travel on naval vessels and can be armed with anti-ship missiles, torpedoes, and a machine gun.

The purchase of new helicopters -- promising greater range, more sophisticated technology, and potentially more powerful weaponry -- has been years in the making.

Defence manufacturers began lining up to sell their helicopters as early as 2023, when the Ministry of Defence sought interest from the market. The ministry confirmed this week that more then 25 responses to the call out were received at the time.

Three major firms -- Leonardo, Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky, and Airbus -- have told The Post they are still in play.

Among these was Leonardo, which pitches its Wildcat helicopter as not only combat-proven and capable, but a “major opportunity” to strengthen New Zealand’s defence relationship with the UK.

A spokesperson for the manufacturer said this week the Wildcat would be a “better fit” with the navy’s frigates than the alternatives, in part due to its smaller size. Leonardo has since 2023 signed agreements with New Zealand firms that could become a domestic industry to service the helicopters.

The frigate HMNZS Te Kaha would see the Wildcat for itself in the coming months, the spokesperson said, when the helicopters aboard a UK Strike carrier group participate in Australia’s Exercise Talisman Sabre alongside the Te Kaha.

But former defence minister Wayne Mapp, who was involved in the purchase of the Seasprites, said he was “pretty sure” the Government would instead buy Sikorsky Seahawks.

“The capability plan made a great deal about trying to get as much as possible the same sort of things the Australians have got. That would mean the Seahawk.

“It’s probably the most common maritime combat helicopter in the world.”

Buying the Seahawk effectively means buying from the United State military, a purchase that could reduce New Zealand’s trade surplus with the US, which would be viewed favourably by the Trump administration.

Norway in 2023 was cleared to buy six Seahawks and associated hardware for a cost of $1.6b NZD.

A Sikorsky spokesperson said the company would continue to support the US navy with discussions with New Zealand over a potential sale of the helicopter, which offered “the lowest cost per flight hour” of such maritime helicopters, at $10,000 NZD an hour.

More than 340 Seahawks were being flown across the world, according to the firm, and the fleet operated by Australia, that will be 36-strong by the end of 2026, would offer New Zealand “synergies”.

It would “not only reduce the overall cost of ownership, but also allow New Zealand to bring its [Seahawks] into service more rapidly.

“Should a regional conflict create a contested logistics environment in the Indo-Pacific, the partnership with Australia would provide a local resource for continued operation.”

Another option is the AirBus, which wants to sell New Zealand the naval variant of the NH90, a helicopter already flown by the air force.

Mapp said “not too many countries” flew this helicopter.

Nonetheless, Airbus NHIndustries President Axel Aloccio said, in a statement, the helicopter best met New Zealand’s needs as it had a greater range than the Seasprite, was all-weather and therefore usable in the Southern Ocean, and unlike others had an emergency floatation system.

New Zealand’s existing tooling, stock of spare parts, and knowledge and training of the NH90 helicopter would mean “significant economies of scale”, Aloccio said.

Defence Minister Judith Collins would not be drawn on whether the Government had a preferred option. Though she said she was not considering the trade balance with the US when considering the matter.

“We're still going to have business case done there. We've got to come up with suggestions from Defence. I'm letting them get on with it.”

Mapp said more than five helicopters might be needed, in the long run.

“It will be [enough] for a while, and once you’ve got a fleet of Seahawks, it’s easy to add another one or two.”