Air Power 2017

52 AIR POWER 2017

21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS

21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS

Nick Cook asks Group Captain Hamish Cormack how the Royal Air

Force’s upgraded Puma Mk2 is making a difference and saving lives

PUM A’S R E SO LUTE

SUPPORT

O

ne of the practical challenges

associated with the extremely

successful introduction of the

upgraded RAF Puma Mk2, says Group

Captain Hamish Cormack, the Station Commander

of RAF Benson, where the helicopters are based, is

that it looks pretty much like a Puma Mk1. However,

thanks to the new capability it has received, it

is effectively a brand new aircraft and is already

proving itself as such on operations in Afghanistan.

“The Puma Mk1 wasn’t a 21st-century helicopter,

but now, thanks to the upgrade, it is,” explains

Group Captain Cormack. The Puma is the RAF’s

stalwart medium-lift helicopter, which has

been in UK service since the early 1970s.

With 35% more power from its two new Makila 1A1

engines, additional fuel-carrying capacity and improved

fuel efficiency, the new machine has almost twice the

range and endurance of its predecessor. There are many

other advantages conferred by the new capability. For

example, the Puma Mk2 is rapidly deployable – two

aircraft can fit into a single RAF C-17 transport and,

upon landing, can be reassembled and flying on task

in four hours, which is a major boon to rapid-reaction

and disaster-relief operations. The new engines give

significantly improved hot and high performance, vital for

operations in mountainous countries such as Afghanistan,

enabling the RAF to fly further and for longer.

The Mk2, with its smaller physical footprint than

fellow UK medium- and heavy-lift types (the Merlin

The Puma

Life Extension

Programme

has successfully

transformed the

Puma into a 21st-

century battlefield

support helicopter,

ahead of schedule

and on budget

(PHOTO: CORPORAL (CPL)

CONNOR PAYNE/

© CROWN COPYRIGHT)