GKN Aerospace will supply the complete, assembled airframe for 70 Future Lynx helicopters for the Royal Navy and Army. The Company will be responsible for managing the entire supply chain for this work and will assemble the airframe at its base in Yeovil, prior to delivery to AgustaWestland. This contract is valued at approximately £50 million through to 2016.

Rob Lewis, General Manager & Operations Director, GKN Aerospace - Yeovil
"This represents the culmination of three years of effort to secure the contract and is the result of a true team effort to provide an elegant and efficient solution which delivers significant cost reductions for the Future Lynx Airframe."

The airframe for the Future Lynx represents a considerable progression from the current Lynx airframe which is also supplied, fully assembled, by GKN Aerospace Structures at Yeovil. GKN Aerospace has worked with the AgustaWestland design team throughout the development cycle to achieve a new and less complex design. The result is a new Lynx airframe that will continue to be manufactured in aluminium but will incorporate monolithic machined components to reduce the component count by some 30%.

GKN Aerospace has been supplying assemblies for the Lynx airframe for over 20 years, and was contracted to supply the complete, assembled airframe some 5 years ago. The Company has supplied all Lynx airframes to AgustaWestland since that time including airframes for a number of successful export programmes.

Future Lynx is the launch programme under the new Strategic Partnering Arrangement (SPA) that the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and AgustaWestland (AW) have signed. An integral requirement of the SPA has been the back to back signature by AgustaWestland of the Future Lynx Contract and Partnering Charters with the six major suppliers to the Future Lynx Programme – one of these being GKN Aerospace.