Struggling Westland Helicopters announced some good news this week, even though it won't affect the number of redundancies recently announced.
The news came as Yeovil MP David Laws was meeting the Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon, to discuss future possible orders from the British Government.
Westland officials said on Monday that the Royal Air Force of Oman had placed an order for 16 Super Lynx 300 helicopters as part of a replacement programme.
His Excellency Sayyid Badr bin Saud al Busaidy, the Minister responsible for defence affairs, signed the agreement on January 19th with Westland Helicopters Ltd.
Richard Case, chairman of Westland Helicopters Ltd, signed the agreement on behalf of the company at a special ceremony.
He said: "The purchase of Lynx 300 by Oman represents an important chapter in the Lynx 300 success story. This is the third overseas selection of Super Lynx 300 and is the first to be placed by a Middle East customer, clearly recognising the significant performance advantage that the CTS800 engines bring to the helicopter.
"Oman, in particular, has a demanding requirement not only for operating in hot environments but also at altitudes up to 10,000ft. The investment that we have made in the Super Lynx 300 programme clearly demonstrates AgustaWestland's commitment to maintain the lead position of Lynx in the global helicopter market."
A spokesman for the company said that the customer had requested that no financial details of the deal be made public.
The spokesman was also not allowed to say when work is planned to start and when delivery is due.
* As previously reported, Yeovil MP David Laws was set to meet the Secretary of State for Defence (Geoff Hoon) this week to discuss future government helicopter orders.
Mr Laws met with the minister on Wednesday. No commitments or promises were made but Mr Laws described the meeting as "very constructive".
Westland Helicopter MD Alan Johnston and senior MoD officials sat in on the meeting, and Mr Laws said: "All parties involved in this meeting confirmed their desire to continue to work together on both UK orders and on securing further orders in the highly competitive export markets."