Boeing, Airbus pair up to bid for UK's helicopter contract

(Reuters) - U.S. planemaker Boeing Co and its European rival Airbus SE have teamed up to bid for a UK government contract that would provide helicopters for the Royal Air Force and British Army, the companies said on Monday.

The move comes as Britain looks to replace its ageing fleet of twin-engined medium transport helicopter, Puma HC Mk2. A joint statement by the two planemakers did not diclose the size of the contract they were bidding for.

Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury had in January set out the company's pitch in London, where he said its Broughton facility would become the sole assembly site for its H175M choppers for the world market if Airbus won the bid.

The companies said if an offer by Airbus to build military version of its H175M super-medium helicopter is selected, then Boeing Defence UK will provide aircrew, ground crew and maintenance training.

"As a member of the H175M Task Force, we look forward to leveraging our current expertise to ensure availability and readiness for the UK's future helicopter fleets," said Steve Burnell, managing director of Boeing Defence UK.

The task force, announced by Airbus in July last year, already includes aerospace firms Babcock International and Spirit AeroSystems.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)