Maroon Man I would totally agree with a CH47 equipped CHF instead of the Merlin assualt if the chinook could be adapted to work of ships fully including being able to be put below into hangers and not just be deck cargo. If the Chinook was capable of being given folding blades i'm sure Beoing would offer that option. Most of the Assualt ships and modern RFA's were built with chinook in mind and the decks are of the dimensions to operate them its the space below where the problems lie.
However is the UK going to go down the route of a specialist chinook fit again? I would suspect not. But the sooner descisions are made on the long term future of chinook the better the Aussies and Cannuks were very quick to jump on the CH47F programme and the sooner we do the same the better.
And I do agree there needs to be a fundmental change in attitude to SH in all 3 services with some long term joined up thinking. I think SH sqns have been on operations constantly since the 1960's. The CHF will have to borrow not only Chinooks but also Apache in order to conduct future operations. But then all ops now are ment to be joint enterprises.
Last edited by NURSE; 18th Jul 2009 at 07:06.