PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Would the cancellation of FLynx be the end of the Army Air Corps?
Old 15th May 2008, 08:49
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Occasional Aviator
 
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I agree. What many people don't appreciate is that defining a wooly requirement in one part of the battlefield mobility capability area impinges on what requirements you can write elsewhere - so, in old money, SABR was always going to struggle to justify the 'meduim' aircraft we all knew we needed when BLUH is pursuing the fiction that a lynx-type aircraft could achieve a section lift. BLUH provides section lift, therefore all we need are platoon lifts and above for 3 and 16 bdes.... although actually not.

What is needed is for someone independent (yes, maybe even a firm of consultants) to take a hard look at what battlefield lift capabilities the UK needs in the round, and then procure a suitable force mix with the money combined out of all the different pots. Who ends up flying them is pretty irrelevant - our rules, standards of training and SOPs are all pretty much the same now, the AAC/REME's engineering organisation is coming into line with the RAF/RN, and aircraft type is a much, much more significant cost driver than the rank of the pilot, so any argument about which service could do it cheaper/better is a bit thin nowadays.
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