'Credit' where it's due.
The shortage of helicopter lift in Afghanistan should not come as much of a surprise to anyone.
A massive 38% shortfall in helicopter lift was identified by the NAO years ago. Since then, the shortfall has been worsened as ageing fleets have been reduced by wastage and attrition, and as Iraq and Afghanistan have revealed that some platforms are actually worth not much more than the square root of bug.ger all in hot and high conditions.
And the Government's response?
To reduce the cash available for Future Rotorcraft from £4.5 Bn to a tad over £3 Bn, and then to spend most of it on:
1) The Royal Navy's Merlin CSP - an update to an irrelevant Cold War ASW platform - £900 m
2) FLynx - primarily for the Royal Navy's vital need to replace the Lynx HMA8 - another £1 Bn
3) Chinook fix to field £250 m to get just eight Chinooks back onto the books
4) SAR-H £750 m.
Total: £2.9 Bn.
not much left for support helicopters - Puma and Commando replacements, recapitalising Chinook and bringing Merlin to full strength.
We could argue all day about whether spending the lion's share of FRC money on grey funnel lines helicopters is or is not a good idea, but to do so on these particular platforms first, before sorting the identified shortfall in battlefield and amphibious lift would seem to me to suggest that whoever doles out the pennies from the pot marked 'choppers' has never heard of prioritisation.