This from RP Defence One such example is how Col. Shane Openshaw, the Army’s AH-64 Apache program manager is eyeing F-35-style distributed aperture sensor (DAS) tech for use on the Apache. “We’re thinking about how to do integration” with DAS-style technology on the third development phase of the Block III Apache sometime later this decade, Openshaw told me this week. [...]
Lack of spare parts, is anyone surprised? Good job they weren’t needed as much.
In some of the previous posts of helicopters and ground vehicle I discussed future heavy lift options for the UK and how vehicle weight defines certain break points, the 10 tonne payload of the Chinook being one of them. I like the combination of shipborne operation and 15 tonne (approximately) as offered by the CH53K but given that the UK [...]
It’s not news but thought it worth highlighting the valuable contribution the Sea King has made to operations in Afghanistan and Libya now they have returned. A pair of ASaC Mk7′s from 857 Naval Air Squadron carried out over 100 sorties from HMS Ocean in support of the NATO led operation. In addition, Sea King Mk4′s in Afghanistan have been [...]
How impressive is this Then of course, there is always this What a superb display of skill, its an old video and there are a few others knocking about the web but this one for me takes the trophy. Absolutely fantastic.
Who would be a politician? In the blink of an eye, instead of occupying the moral high ground, slagging off the government of the day from the comfort of the opposition benches, you now find yourself being force fed an unremitting diet of your own words from those you once took pleasure from skewering. Apart from treatment of the wounded [...]
Interesting couple of videos I thought worth sharing Interesting to see an electro optical turret fitted The Royal Tank Regiment and Scots Dragoon Guards have swapped their Challengers for Warthogs, this allows them to use their manouver and armour deployment skills to maximum advantage
In the previous post I came to the conclusion that the future of rotary lift was pretty much as planned by the MoD, Merlin utility to CHF, more Chinook/upgrades for the RAF, upgraded Puma’s, Merlin HM2 upgrade, Wildcat and a big question mark over the Sea Kings. As I noted, for this to work, the forces need to grapple with [...]
By Jed TD recently did his article on the future of the rotary wing fleet. We have had a few pre-SDSR and post-SDSR conversations about the future of the rotary fleet in the comments section of various articles. Based on some of these comments I thought it might just be interesting to do a very quick comparison of statistics for [...]
As with other posts on the subject, I have lumped this one in the RAF section for convenience, I think one commenter made the point that it would have been better to bases these series of posts on capabilities rather than services and this is a very god point but at this stage I want to push on. As I [...]
Another one from Gabriele, this time on the Army Air Corps. I should stress that I fundamentally disagree with most of this but the idea of Think Defence is to look at different viewpoints and allow space for discussion START I will make no mystery of the fact that the RAF will come out of my review as the [...]
When considering what type of equipment or organisational structures are relevant to the future vertical lift (including attack) the first step is to look at basic requirements. Be it weight class, mission, payload or other factors there are clearly different types. One size does not and cannot fit all. This is where an interesting discussion can take place; I think [...]
Helicopters are noisy, expensive to buy, fuel inefficient, poor at altitude, difficult to fly, slow, don’t lift much, have very short range and quite ridiculous maintenance requirements yet we put up with all their foibles for two simple reasons, they can go places and do things other aircraft cannot. Being able to deliver and retrieve personnel and stores from the [...]
Flotation devices have been used on helicopters for some time but this story from Defense Update caught my eye. The system is being displayed at Aero India by Aero Sekur and consists of a series of dual use flotation and shock attenuation bags. NASA carried out a series of helicopter crashes to investigate survival technologies some years ago including what [...]
Just when you thought the MoD could not be any more ham fisted they manage to completely screw something up so spectacularly it restores your faith in their rank incompetence. Widely covered in the press this week is the decision to abandon the £6 billion SAR-H PFI in the light of allegations of skulduggery and dodgy dealing. The MoD police are now [...]
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