There are self preservation undertones in this article, not least of which is an effort to retain the airfield at Middle Wallop that I am assured is in danger of closing. Unfortunatley there is no mention of the support infrastructure provided to the AAC by the RAF such as Safety Equipment fitters and Ground Engineers and the willy waving goes as far as refuelling in the field AAC v TSW and HHI/LPC requirements. Rumour has it that the AAC want to take on the Helicopter Support role(s) [JATE/JHSU?] in toto. The game is changing and the AAC are taking a lead from the Navy in pursuing positive
PR and who can blame them. The 'Joint' of JHC is there in name only and the green suited elements of JHC are doing well at maintaining Army interests. Perhaps the uncertainty of Merlin/Puma II and indeed the Benson station is seen as a chink that the AAC can exploit to their own advantage. SDSR was bound to trigger in-service bickering, even subtle willy waving such as this.