A
SENIOR BRITISH ARMY
offi cer has detailed to
Combat Aircraft plans to
acquire 50 AH-64E Apache
Guardians to replace the
entire existing fl eet of
Apache AH1s (WAH-64Ds) from 2020.
Speaking at RAF Benson on 12 March,
Brigadier Neil Sexton, deputy commander
and operations director at Joint Helicopter
Command said: ‘The AH-64D that we’ve
had in service now for many years has
been extremely successful in Afghanistan,
but by about 2017-18 we will be the only
people fl ying the Block 1 and so will start
to have some obsolescence issues. So
we’re looking to upgrade to the E-model,
and will get 50 of them starting sometime
around the end of the decade.
‘What this gives us is an aircraft
that is absolutely aligned with what
the Americans will have and we’ll be
completely in step with them in terms of
capabilities — for example, its ability to
team with unmanned air systems and its
ability to upgrade quite easily its defensive
aids suite because it has a ‘plug-and-play’
system, an electronic spine inside the
aircraft that allows you to change modules.
‘It will also see us moving forward in
terms of the weapon systems in the same
way as the Americans do, because once
again the electronic infrastructure allows
you to ‘plug and play’ different systems.’
New weapons systems are, however,
not expected as Sexton explained: ‘At
the moment we’re pretty happy with the
CRV-7 rockets, the gun and the Hellfi re,
but in due course the Hellfi re will beupgraded, and as those new modules come
through we’ll be able in the E to put those
on board also.’
With a smaller fl eet, changes to the
existing structure of the Apache fl eet are
planned. Sexton added: ‘What we’re going
to do next time, because we’ll have fewer
aircraft, is we’ll combine somewhere — we
don’t yet know where. The conversion
to type that’s currently done at Middle
Wallop and the conversion to role training
that is currently done at Wattisham: that
will be in one location, [performed] on
one fl eet of aircraft and hopefully with one
fl eet of instructors, which will allow us to
be that bit more effi cient in the way we do
that training. That will probably be done
with one squadron.’
Further maritime missions are also
planned: ‘We’re defi nitely going to be
seeing [the] Apache alongside [the]
Chinook and Merlin Mk4 operating off the
Queen Elizabeth-class carrier. The Apache
had a successful operational deployment to
Libya in 2011, the aircraft is very capable
at sea, and we now see the US Army
training its Apache pilots to fl y their E
model off littoral ships, so it’s something
we’re going to continue doing.’Puma HC2 deploys
to Afghanistan
The Royal Air Force has wasted little time
in deploying the Puma HC2 to Afghanistan
after declaration of the type’s initial
operating capability (IOC) in February.
Defi ned as being six aircraft and crews
ready for worldwide operations, IOC of
the upgraded Puma fl eet will now see theROTARY PLANS
UK TO ACQUIRE APACHE GUARDIAN •
PUMA HC2 ENTERS SERVICEThe Royal Air Force has deployed the upgraded Puma HC2 to
Afghanistan. Crown Copyright
Inset: Brigadier Neil Sexton, deputy commander and operations
director at Joint Helicopter Command. Dylan Eklund- Chinook HC6 achieved IOC in January
2015 (de ned as three aircraft ready for use),
with six of 14 airframes delivered. - Wildcat AH1 achieved IOC in August 2014
(de ned as three helicopters plus logistical
support ready for operations), with 27 of 34
now delivered. - Wildcat HMA2 achieved IOC in January 2015
(de ned as one helicopter and logistical
support able to deploy for six months), with
12 of 28 airframes now delivered. - Merlin HM2 IOC de ned as six helicopters
delivered to RNAS Culdrose and ready for
operational deployment, with 19 of 30
now delivered.
UK HELICOPTER
MILESTONES
RAF Chinook force concluding 13 years of
operations in Afghanistan.
Speaking on March 11, Sqn Ldr Phil
Williams, deputy offi cer commanding
No 33 Squadron, said: ‘For us as operators
IOC marks the point at which our training
allows us to employ [the] Puma fully. It’s a
marker that we’ve now achieved this, and
we are ready and able to be utilised in a
non-permissive environment in support of
UK defence needs.’
By early March he fi rst helicopter had
been airlifted to Kabul, Afghanistan on
Operation ‘Toral’. The detachment will
comprise three helicopters and will remain
in theatre until the conclusion of the
British training mission.
Explaining the mission, Williams said:
‘Broadly, the role in Afghanistan is in
support of the UK training mission, we’ll
be doing exactly the same sort of thing
that Chinook was doing out there. Aircraft
have already deployed and it’s very much
support to trainers.
‘One of the benefi ts of [the] Puma is that
as a compact battlefi eld helicopter it can
get into landing sites that other aircraft
simply can’t. It’s ideal for the sort of
things that the UK may face in any of the
contingent operations that we might be
called to do. The size of the aircraft means
you can get two of them in the back of a
C-17. On arrival you can get them out of
that C-17, put them back together and be
ready to be on task in a matter of hours.’
The 24-strong fl eet of Puma HC2s is re-
equipping Nos 33 and 230 Squadrons at
RAF Benson. The transfer of six Chinooks
from No 18(B) Squadron’s Operational
Conversion Flight at RAF Odiham is
expected to be completed by the end of the
year, when a new squadron will be formed
as the operational conversion unit for both
the Puma and Chinook. The ‘numberplate’
of the new reserve squadron has not been
released.
Making way, the fi rst Royal Navy Merlin
HC3 squadron, 846 Naval Air Squadron,
was expected to move from Benson to
RNAS Yeovilton in early April. The second
unit, 845 Naval Air Squadron, will be
formed on the Merlin at Benson in July and
will remain at the Oxfordshire base until
mid-2016.The UK Ministry of Defence has outlined
details of several key helicopter programs.report: Dylan Eklund
20 May 2015 http://www.combataircraft.netSPECIAL REPORT
20 UK Helicopters C.indd 20 20/03/2015 11: