I've nothing per se against the Merlin, and I applaud the efforts of many on this forum to back British industry. However, we cannot escape the fact that the critical shortfall theatre for us is Afghanistan. The Merlin simply does not have the disposable payload to provide the same service to the troops in that theatre in that level of kinetic threat as the CH47.
It is doing sterling work in Iraq, hats off to OC28 and his boys (& girls) who have worked hard to provide a valued capability to the commanders on the ground. BUT if the Merlin fleet was grounded (again) tomorrow then we could, at a push, back fill it with Puma / Sea King & Lynx. We simply couldn't replace the Chinooks in the 'Stan due to the DA / threat / nature of tasking involved. We would probably have to radically change the SoM of the troops if we tried to replace CH47 in theatre.
The greatest dis-service anyone can do to the Merlin is compare it to a Chinook. It isn't. It's a Merlin, and it has its own strengths and weaknesses.
The combination of the AH64 / CH47 works a treat in theatre, largely due to the efforts of the Westland staff in doing a good job on the Apaches. Agusta are looking at building F models for Italy, can't we have some as well?
Jacko, one point. Constantly bleating about how noisy a Chinook is compared to a Merlin is not a simple arguement. For covert, say pathfinder, insertions you have a point (unless they want to take a vehicle). Those who do this for a living will tell you that if you approach properly, at LL, where terrain permits, the noise (especially in battle) is irrelevant. Equally, flying over the isotropic beach which is South Iraq your noise will carry, whatever platform. A commander in a fight would rather have 40+ running out of a Chinook (which is a far more survivable platform) than 15-20 sliding down a Merlin ramp playing dodge the tail rotor!
On a serious note, buy a twin-turboprop (C27J / CASA 212 etc), fit it with armour and a good DAS, and offload some of the trivial "bus runs" that are always a feature when SH are in theatre for too long. Husband our scarce helo assets, employ them properly and replace them when they are worn out.
The root of the problem is that helicopters aren't sexy in purist Air Power terms. Ironic really that we've spent 20 years girding our loins for the TypHoon, whilst constantly delaying, or curtailing, RW projects then we get involved in a vicious shooting war where SH, AH & AT are the principle enablers. Might be a book in that...!