Future Carrier (Including Costs)

[WE Branch Fanatic]

Just a few extra thoughts:

1. Ten Crowsnest kits being ordered. We are not going to be operating them all at once, but I think that some see the kits as a one for one replacement for the Sea King 7.

2. All the Merlin HM2s are having the modifications to carry the kit. Does that help explain why 820 NAS is not taking nine aircraft?

3. As this Italian guy notes, the Merlin was designed to have modular system so that rapid reconfiguration is possible:

Without disembarking the consoles (but disembarking the sonobuoys launchers) and with full four men crew, the Merlin HM1 can lift a 3400 kg payload, or carry 8 stretchers plus paramedic personnel. It can carry ten equipped soldiers, and with a L118 Light Gun under slung at the cargo hook it can stay in the air for a good hour, deploying the gun up to 100 km away from the ship. Up to 16 men can be carried in transfer flights. Disembarking the dipping sonar to free up cabin space when ASW is not a priority, 8 seats plus a rack of 4 stretchers can be fitted.

4. He also states that the carriers normally carried six Merlins, alongside a flight of three ASaCs Sea Kings, Sea Harriers (until March 2006) and Harrier GR7/9s (until late 2010), and a utility/ SAR Sea King from 810/771.

Normally, when a flight of six Merlins deploy on a UK carrier, it comes from this squadron, which is probably the most active ASW unit of the whole fleet.

5. Why six ASW cabs? The Merlin replaced the Sea King in the ASW role, and the CVS took squadrons of nine to provide two aircraft on station around the clock, plus SAR and utility roles. If we consider that one of those Sea Kings would have been doing utility roles of parked near the ramp on SAR standby, can six Merlins provide as much time on station as eight Sea Kings?

For Merlin - On an anti-submarine warfare active dipping mission over a radius of operation of 50 nautical miles, there is sufficient fuel in the internal fuel tanks to provide 190 minutes on station with a 20-minute fuel reserve. Fully armed on an anti-submarine warfare passive sonobouy mission, the helicopter time on station is 210 minutes at a radius of operation of 100 nautical miles, and 90 minutes at a radius of operation 200 nautical miles.

How does that compare with its predecessor - and rivals? I became mathematically confused when I tried to use Little's Theorem to work out how many helicopters you need to maintain two aircraft on station, 100 nm from the carrier with a) Merlin with five hour endurance, or b) Sea King with four hour endurance? Perhaps someone clever like can help? Does have 25% more endurance mean that 25% less aircraft are needed for the same coverage, or am I being simplistic, as the the sortie will include the outward transit flight, the time on station, and the return transit. Although Merlin is faster than the Sea King, the transit times will not be much different, so things are not quite as linear as I thought.

If we assume that the transit times are the same, then it does appear linear...

Or are we still planning on a rotary wing force (aboard the carrier) of nine ASW Merlins, plus Crowsnest, plus Junglies?