weather and icing conditions – all presented
on the aircraft’s primary flight display.
A Merlin with few boundaries
The AW101’s multi-role billing is supported
by the diversity of tasks it performs over
land and sea, under hot and high conditions
and in very cold, hostile environments.
Primary roles encompass military utility,
anti-submarine/anti-surface warfare (ASW/
ASuW), airborne mine countermeasures, patrol
and interdiction, combat search and rescue
(CSAR), SAR and VVIP transport. Secondary
tasks include vertical replenishment, casualty
evacuation, underslung lift operations, counter-
piracy, fisheries protection and humanitarian
relief, plus amphibious and logistics support.
For the Royal Navy, airborne surveillance
and control (ASaC) will be a major addition to
the Merlin’s repertoire. Under the Crowsnest
programme, Royal Navy HM2s are being
upgraded to receive a Thales UK-designed
mission system – an improved version of its
Searchwater radar and Cerberus mission system
- to replace the now retired Sea King ASaC7
(see Sea King ends its reign, November p76-78).
If required, the AW101 has an air-to-air refuelling
capability, which has been used by the Italian Air
Force HH-101A. A probe has also been fitted as
a test installation on a Royal Navy Merlin HC4.
While the AW101 cannot compete with
the CH-47 or CH-53 in lifting the heaviest
loads, its cabin size is the largest in its class.
Compared with the Sea King it replaced, the
AW101 has greater internal volume (29m³/1,024
cu ft versus 28m³/989 cu ft), floor area
(15.3m²/165 sq ft versus 13.94m²/150 sq ft)
and width (2.49m/8.2ft versus 1.98m/6.5ft).
The type’s large rear cabin supports high-
density troop carrying (up to 38 troops)
and emergency passenger evacuations
(up to 54 passengers). It also has a larger
sliding cabin door (a width of 1.83m/6ft
compared with 1.73m/5.7ft) which
enhances crew visibility and makes for
faster passenger/aircrew ingress/egress.
Despite its size advantage, the AW101’s
overall ‘footprint’ is not much greater
than the Sea King’s. The location of its
undercarriage, coupled with its folding
rotors, means it can fit into the same space
as its predecessor. The main rotor blade
Above: Seen flying in the UK with the test serial ZR343, Mk641 c/n 50248 was originally built for the
Indian Air Force as ZW-4306. It was delivered to Indonesia early last year as one of three intended for the
Presidential fleet. Although that plan was scrapped on cost grounds, the air force managed to acquire
at least this one helicopter. Ian Harding Below: The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force received AW101s
produced under licence by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Serial 8192 (c/n KHI04) is one of the three CH-101
variants acquired to support Japan’s Antarctic research activities, aboard the ‘Shirase’ polar icebreaker
vessel. Leonardo via Ian Harding
Above: The Portuguese Air Force acquired the AW101 in three discrete variants for SAR, fisheries patrol and CSAR duties. AW101 Mk514 serial 19603 is seen
taking part in Exercise Hot Blade earlier this year. FAP
AW101 at 30
84 // DECEMBER 2018 #369 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com