On 1st October 2026, I was very fortunate to watch the Canadian Air Force's first brand new CH-149 Cormorant's conducting sloping ground training on Salisbury Plain.
A great opportunity to take a look at the interesting project currently taking place to upgrade Canada’s fleet of Cormorants.
Back in 2012 the Canadian Armed Forces initiated the project to implement a mid-life update for their CH-149 Cormorant Helicopters, which first flew on 31st May 2000 at the Agusta Helicopters factory in Vergiate, Italy.
Leonardo Helicopters won the contract for the mid-life update on 22nd December 2022, along with a team of other companies including IMP, GE Canada, Collins Aerospace and CAE which was to build three new airframes to be based on the existing state of the art AW101 Mk612 for Norway and upgrade the existing fleet of 13 CH-149's.
This contract will see the Cormorant serve Canada until 2042 at the very least and will enable the CH-149 to be stationed at all four Search and Rescue main operating bases.
The three brand new CH-149s to be built at Yeovil in the UK were designated the AW101 Mk615 and their production began in August 2024.
A year later in September 2025 production began on the other 13 airframes which would see the current aircraft stripped for parts and rebuilt on new aircraft shells from the cancelled VH-71 US Presidential order along with components such as control surfaces, transmissions and engines. This would take place at IMP Aerospace in Halifax, Nova Scotia with first deliveries expected to begin in 2027 running through to 2029 with Full Operational Capability expected in 2030.
The new Mk615's are built around the awesome Norwegian SAR Queens most notably the L3Harris WESCAM system, Smith Myers ARTEMIS mobile phone detection system, modern advanced autopilot and digital full authority engine control, synthetic vision, and a the latest weather radar. The Canadian's opted to not use the Osprey AESA radar and LiDAR rotor warning system.
Another aspect of the mid-life update contract is that CAE will be providing a flight simulator based on the Mk615 to provide up to date modern training for the crews.
On 1st October, I was lucky to find WESTLAND 06 conducting sloping ground training on Salisbury Plain. Crewed by Leonardo flight test crew and Canadian Air Force crews, UK serial LH110 was seen still in it's primer paint. The aircrafts first flight was on 30th June 2026 and has since gone through the full post-construction shake down programme and now training it's first customer crews.
My full set can be found here: [HERE]