Mk3 at sea
The Mk3 had always had a capability to operate off ships if required (it is in the basic specification of the aircraft), this should not be interpreted as being a naval aircraft, it's in the same kind of capability as Ch47 on a ship (ie on CVS, LHD etc not FF or DD)
No SHOL trial for a Mk3 has been carried out yet but there won't be any problems as the basic airframe should be OK as all EH101s are structurally and materially virtually the same. Deck handling has proven OK with the MMI aircraft (same U/C configuration).
The aircraft talked about is already flying, check out the DMRH and JSDAF variants, RTM322 powered folding aircraft. BTW the danes kept their folding ones, the Mk3As will not have folding heads (commonality with Mk3?)
DM