The UK Ministry of Defence is considering the creation of a joint British Army and Royal Air Force helicopter group under the Government's Strategic Defence Review (SDR).
Senior industry sources say that, as part of the SDR, officials are mooting the setting up of a two-service helicopter-support group which would bring together the Army's attack-helicopter and the RAF's support-helicopter assets.
Rationalising the Army and RAF helicopter capabilities has been examined several times before. The debate between the two services, however, has faltered over the question of ownership.
Industry sources suggest that the issue may be circumvented by taking a joint-service approach to the creation of a helicopter group. Personnel from both of the services could be seconded to the group, while retaining their respective force identities.
The renewed interest in creating a defence-helicopter group is in part being driven by the increased demands on the services to carry out combined operations. The creation of the Joint Rapid Deployment Force is driving interest in pooling helicopter resources.
The sources also point to the Army Air Corp's acquisition of the GKN Westland WAH-64 Longbow Apache attack helicopter, and the associated operational support requirements, as another driver behind the rekindled interest in reviewing helicopter resources.
Source: Flight International