Air Power 2017

108 AIR POWER 2017

21 ST CENTURY CAPABILITIES

21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS

Patrick Allen talks to Group Captain Phil Robinson OBE DFC** RAF,

Station Commander RAF Odiham and UK Chinook Force Commander,

about keeping the RAF’s Chinook fleet ready for operations worldwide

SPIN DOCTORS

I

n 2006, Boeing partnered with the United

Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) to

begin a Through Life Customer Support

(TLCS) contract to maintain the Royal

Air Force (RAF) fleet of Boeing Chinook

helicopters that continues to this day.

This successful partnership is anticipated to

continue beyond 2050 as the Chinook is set to remain

the mainstay of the UK’s heavy-lift capability for the

foreseeable future. As Group Captain Phil Robinson,

the RAF Odiham Station Commander and UK

Chinook Force Commander, explains, “The Chinook

has been in service with the RAF for over 35 years,

and our partnership with Boeing has always been

there. It became really close from 2006 onwards,

when we were heavily involved in Afghanistan and

we needed to get as much capability as we could

out of the aircraft in the shortest possible time.

“There are around 1,000 Chinooks operational

throughout the world and Boeing can reach into

that global support network and access a wider

pool of manpower. With the TLCS, we went from

flying around 9,000 hours a year in 2006 to over

18,000 hours by 2012. We could not have achieved

that without our close partnership with Boeing

and the fantastic work undertaken by the Defence

Equipment & Support (DE&S) Agency at Abbey

Wood UK. Without this partnership, we could not

The RAF’s fleet

of 60 Boeing

Chinook helicopters

delivers tactical

lift for all three UK

armed services

(PHOTO: SERGEANT

DAVE ROSE /

© CROWN COPYRIGHT)