And there isn't much wrong with that. I wonder if everyone who has just had a pop at the Merlin Mk3 has actually been involved with operating them, rather than working from a distance? Yes, it's not perfect, but nothing is. However, it is amazing to me how people still look at it as though nothing has changed in the last 5 years - and as if nothing will. It is NEW - and that means there have been, and in some areas still are, supportability problems and technical issues. have we all forgotten how tortuous and difficult the upgrade to Chinook HC2 standard was? And that was just a rework of an existing major type in international service.
Merlin at least came out of a programme to build a maritime helicopter - and if we bought a 'Mk4' variant then it would most likely have the modifications scoped for CSAR-X (don't know about those? then please don't slag off the design we bought years ago) and would be much closer to the Italian design. If I wanted to develop a LitM ac (SH with a ship clearance?) then I wouldn't waste my time trying to get a Chinook to fold.
Please, people, try to look FORWARD to what Merlin could be if we bought it in this role rather than BACK to what we ordered 20 years ago turned out like 5 years ago.