There is no doubt that Merlin is a fine A/C, give it an EO device
Its got one!
what type? ASW Weapon?
upgrade the software
Its a brand new aircraft.... why upgrade the software? and if the software isn't correct why accept it?
Give Westlands the contract to build a few more Merlins to augment 829
there are 44 Merlin - what are you doing with them all?
the Lynx crews can all convert, as quite a few have already
2 have !
the Observer shortage will be addressed to boot
Didnt know thwere was a Merlin Observer shortage.
Bit of a pipedream but I think what will really happen is that we will support just a handful of Merlin. That will be 5 or 6 maybe 7 at a stretch. This will mean a whole lot of Merlin aircrew will not have an aircraft to fly. They will be invited to convert to Lynx and that will create big problems as upto 40 Merlin crews are sent to Somerset. Now you move into the realsm of somerset not being able to support that many crews.