Agusta Westland and Thales Unveil Merlin Based ASaC

Agusta Westland and Thales have unveiled the next generation of their helicopter borne airborne surveillance and control system (ASaC)

The current ASaC7 is on the venerable Sea King but as CVF construction continues the next generation of airborne early warning system is under consideration. Given that CVF will not be having cats and traps a vertical launch system seems the inevitable choice to fulfil the Maritime Airborne Surveillance and Control (MASC) requirement. Have a look here and here for an in depth description.

The Sea King based system is a mature system and consistently under rated, in some areas it’s performanceis said to exceed that of the much vaunted US E2 Hawkeye and has seen service in Afghanistan, supplementing other ISR assets such as the Sentinel and RAPTOR equipped Tornadoes in the Counter IED mission.

Read more…

Not So Quiet on the Westland Front

THE MOD has announced the contract to re-engine the remainder of the Army Air Corps (AAC) Lynx Mk 9 helicopters, to bring them up to Mk 9A standard.

The contract, worth £41.8milllion, has been awarded to AgustaWestland and will see the final 10 airframes upgraded. These are in addition to the previous 12 which began conversion at the end of last year. The out of service date for the Mk 9A has also been extended to 2016. The Minister for Defence Equipment and support, Quentin Davies said:

“This improved version of the very successful Lynx helicopter will greatly benefit our troops in Afghanistan when it deploys there for the first time next month. The enhancements will allow it to perform in the extremes of climate and geography that characterise that theatre of operations.”

Quentin Davies was right when he said it will greatly benefit our troops as operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq were severely limited by Lynx’s inability to operate in hot and high conditions, especially during the summer months. At times the troop carrying capability has been reduced to one, which makes something of a lonely patrol.

Read more…

Don’t Worry, They Always Pack Extra Screws

Threading a needle wearing boxing gloves.

This amazing series of photographs shows the loading of a C17 at RAF brize Norton with the first of a batch of Merlin helicopters bound for Afghanistan.

Not much to say except, brilliant…

Read more…

A Case for Coherence

The recent announcements of helicopter upgrades that we have blogged here and here, especially the Puma and Lynx upgrade, are to be welcomed, despite their apparent poor value for money, they will return airframes to operations and that can only be a good thing.

The Chinook upgrade especially will result in a wholly consistent and coherent modification status across the whole fleet. The Puma upgrade will also result in the same state but the Lynx, Sea King and Merlin fleet will consist of a wide variety of modification states and versions. From a through life management perspective this is a bad thing, over complicating training, logistics and maintenance. The overwhelming desire for more airframes for operations, almost at any cost, means this situation will be compounded. The same is true for Army vehicles, perhaps even more so.

The replacement for the Sea King Commando and Puma helicopters is covered in the Future Medium Helicopter programme. All existing Army Lynx’s will be replaced by Lynx Wildcat and all Gazelles will be withdrawn with no replacement.

Read more…

A Tale of Three Upgrades – Puma and Lynx

Returning to the familiar subject of helicopters; the MoD has announced a number of upgrades to the UK rotary fleet.

Read more…

A Tale of Three Upgrades – Chinook

Returning to the familiar subject of helicopters; the MoD has announced a number of upgrades to the UK rotary fleet.

Read more…

The Advent of Future Lynx: Taking a Backwards Step into the Future

It wasn’t that long ago when the name ‘Westland Helicopters’ used to be associated with ministerial resignations, especially for those in defence. Things have been pretty quiet in Yeovil since then, but it appears that this once cold potato has been put back into the oven and the gas mark has been turned up high.

This latest hot potato comes in the form of a row that appears to be smouldering in Westminster between David Law, Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil and the Douglas Carswell, Conservative MP for Clacton and Harwich. Spats between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives are nothing new, if anything they should be actively encouraged. However, this one concerns the defence of the realm, or the lack of it depending on who you choose to believe.
Read more…