AgustaWestland is to be handed a golden opportunity to secure an order that could be worth £400 million.
At the Farnborough Airshow this week, Defence Procurement Minister Lord Bach announced that a contract to assess the suitability of Future Lynx for use by the Royal Navy is to be awarded shortly.
An MoD statement said the assessment contract could be worth up to £10 million, and described it as an opportunity for AgustaWestland to prove it can successfully deliver.
Lord Bach, who witnessed the unveiling of the Malaysian Super Lynx 300 at Farnborough, said: "Lynx has served the royal Navy with distinction since the 1970s all over the world and has demonstrated its first class military capabilities in the Falklands conflict and the Gulf War.
"These aircraft will need replacement in the next six years and we believe that future Lynx offers great potential to fill this. Today's announcement gives AgustaWestland the opportunity to prove it can successfully deliver on this key capability."
Factfile
The programme for a new helicopter for RN frigates and destroyers is called the Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft (SCMR).
The equivalent programme for the Army is the Battlefield Light Utility Helicopter (BLUH).
An earlier study by the MoD has already shown that Future Lynx has the potential to meet the needs of both services.
Both programmes are managed by the Lynx Integrated Project Team, based at MoD Abbey Wood and Yeovilton.
Future Lynx is a development of the Agusta-Westland Super Lynx 300 - the latest export version of the Lynx.
It has an improved airframe which should allow a service life of at least 25 years, a new engine which will operate more effectively in hot and high conditions, and a modern avionics suite.