[quote=JTIDS]JPR and peace time SAR are, sadly, two very seperate occupations which have less in common with each other than most people might think.
I am not convinced that the above statement is true. With a change in our mindset, I believe that our military rescue force could equally achieve both the standard home based SAR and deployed CSAR/JPR roles.
I agree that currently the RAF SAR force appears to be under utilised as a military force - by that I mean war-fighting/supporting. However, many of the SAR crews have served on green helicopters. Indeed, many of the very finest aircrews I have flown with have been ex-SAR and similarly many excellent SH pilots and crewmen have crossed over to the yellow machines.
A JPR mission could entail flight in any weather conditions, in any climate, in any terrain - it could entail a search or recovery of personnel from ships, other stuctures or restricted access sites. Despite the CAMAO trg that was all the rage a few years ago, a recovery mission may be totally unsupported by external assets. In addition to superior flying skills, JPR specifically needs crews with exceptional situational awareness and CRM skills. These are areas in which our SAR crews excel.
My vision would be to replace the SK with the Merlin. The SAR flights would be expanded to 4-6 machines. If that needed a reduction in bases to 3 or 4 more strategically placed units, then so be it. The remaining flights would then have enough crews and machines to deploy as a pair and retain the ability to have an alert crew/aircraft back at home base. Those flights not deployed would have the ability to complete formation, tactical training missions. Admittedly, this plan would require more Merlins than we currently have, but if we are to keep the SAR force, something needs to replace SK. The benefit would be an increased warfighting ability over the current split SH/SAR force while retaining the peacetime SAR capability.
In sum, all aircrews are trained to be military operators and all should share the burden. The SAR force contains some of the most capable and experienced opertaors in the helicopter force. The JPR/SAR mission should be one of the premier and demanding roles within the RAF.
If we "give up" the SAR force, we won't get more SH. We will only lose some very talented individuals. We need to change how we think of rescue and re-focus to get more out of what we have, or hope to have.
Just my 2 pence worth - (and no I'm not a Merlin guy or SARboy)