Further to the posts of PlasticCabDriver and Razor61 here is a photograph of the present Puma/Gazelle Integrated Project Team's Leader : Gp Capt Tim Brandt ( standing second from the left) at the signing of the Assessment Phase (AP) contract for the Life Extension Programme for the RAF’s fleet of Puma Mk1 helicopters which took place at the Paris Air Show 2007 on the 21 June 2007.
As previously stated the Assessment Phase, scheduled for the next 12 months, will consider the detailed technical, operational and cost implications of the upgrade. Successful completion of the AP will lead to a full Development and Manufacture contract for delivery of the main programme.
It is also reported that in a development reflecting the Defence Industrial Strategy’s emphasis on an improved business environment, Eurocopter and the MOD will manage the AP in a Joint Project Office, soon to open in Bristol.
Commenting on the announcement, DG Helicopters Jonathan Lyle said: “The contract represents an important new phase in our relationship with Eurocopter. It offers the RAF the prospect of significantly enhanced Puma capability. We look forward to working with Eurocopter in the integrated Joint Project Office and to building a better understanding of how to enhance and sustain the UK Puma fleet into the future.”
So a year to do the study and then the design stage. As it is to be a "glass cockpit" and complete rewiring of the airframe QinetiQ will still have to be involved to approve these changes as well as the accompanying software, so there would be no saving there. It has been reported that this Mk will replace the Mk1 in 2012.
Forgive me for being pessimistic more likely 2015, if that. I just hope that, based on the experiences gained during the introduction of the Chinook HC Mk2 and Mk3, DPA get their act together this time.