Friday, June 18, 2010

Exercise Desert Vortex 2010.

Photography: SAC Andy Masson/ SAC Neil Chapman/RAF/MOD/Crown Copyright 2010.

3 comments :

  1. Is there any particular reason other than budget constraints why the RAF hasn't expanded its Merlin fleet? I know they had reliability problems early on but that has been resolved, no? It looks an excellent machine on paper and a perfect fit with the RAF below the Chinooks and replacing the aging Puma's.

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  2. that's kind of confused me too. they're even making planes to upgrade the ancient Puma's.

    from what i've read the Merlin has been a solid performer. very high tech.

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  3. The UK Support Helicopter (SH) strategy is a mess.

    The Merlin is very good, stable, fast, decent size and even has that rather nice doughnut groundwash effect!

    But, it is eye wateringly expensive at £25 million odd plus. The RAF bought a different version to the Royal Navy so there is very little interoperability (RAF version does not have rotor/tail fold for example) so they cannot be used effectively on ships to replace the Fleet Air Arms's ageing Sea King Commandos. Yes, we are paying a fortune to upgrade some ancient Puma's. Don't get me started on the Future Lunx Wildcat.

    Its a real mess.

    I covered this in some depth here if you want the back story

    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/10/a-case-for-coherance/

    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/07/on-the-subject-of-helicopters/

    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/07/afghanistan-and-the-case-of-the-missing-helicopters/

    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/03/the-advent-of-future-lynx-taking-a-backwards-step-into-the-future/

    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/12/helicopters-vision-2020/

    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/08/danish-merlins/

    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2009/09/a-tale-of-three-upgrades-%E2%80%93-puma-and-lynx/

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