The UK Ministry of Defence has advanced several programmes intended to boost its available fleet of battlefield support helicopters and provide better support for combat and peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The first of six Royal Danish Air Force EH101 tactical transports to be acquired by the UK was scheduled to arrive at AgustaWestland's Yeovil site in Somerset on 19 June ahead of a conversion programme leading to their entry into Royal Air Force service next year as Merlin HC3As. The UK MoD has meanwhile ordered six replacement aircraft for Copenhagen under the terms of a bilateral memorandum of understanding signed last week.

Rapid expansion of the RAF's 22-strong Merlin HC3 fleet forms part of a rotorcraft programme worth about £230 million ($460 million) announced earlier this year (Flight International, 10-16 April). This will also include the modification of eight grounded Boeing CH-47 Chinook HC3s to enable their frontline use from 2009.

"Work has started in earnest on the programme to convert the eight Chinooks," the MoD says. "Preliminary design work is being undertaken before the main conversion programme, and a plan is being developed to deliver the aircraft within the next two years."

The MoD also last month signed assessment phase contracts with AgustaWestland and Eurocopter to respectively study the extended use of its Sea King and Puma utility helicopters by at least a decade.

The 12-month studies will look at the possibility of continuing Sea King operations until 2017 and of flying up to 35 extensively upgraded Puma HC2s until around 2022. Plans for the £400 million-pus Puma life-extension deal include the provision of new engines, avionics equipment and self-protection equipment.


Source: Flight International

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