Bristow is a very capable company and I want them to succeed. That will only happen if they get a really good grasp of reality.
None of the Bristow (or CHC) SAR operations has EVER been equivalent to the RN and RAF capability. Mountains and NVIS are the key issues.
Regarding mountains, Bristow and CHC at Stornoway have got away with it for a quarter of a century and done some splendid work because amongst those few who would venture that far north they happened to recruit a significant number of very talented individuals
(and, amazingly, DNA seems to play a part). This was luck more than preparedness and planning on the part of Bristow and CHC. It certainly owed absolutely nothing to the DfT and MCA who for decades seem to have been hoping that mountains would simply go away, or turn into something they can understand, like a sand dune.
The Technical Requirement in the MAIN contract ITT changed all that.
Regarding NVIS, the current GAP aircraft at Stornoway have a full NVIS fit as required by the MAIN contract. It has been clear since last year that the full capability was going to take a considerable period of time to develop. Enquiries a couple of weeks ago revealed that nobody had seen or heard of a NVIS operation by R100 or been informed of the maturing of that capability. It will not surprise me if it is January 2015 before we see the first operational outing, hopefully allowing them to hit the ground running at Humberside and Inverness in April. Although somewhat impatient to see this capability mature, I respect the need to do it right rather than quick.
The challenge of bringing those two key capabilities to all of the necessary bases across the UK is immense and should not be under-estimated.
I do not know exactly what the contract says but the early stages of the contract process certainly required bidders to demonstrate how they would harvest the talents of those working with the military fleet. Managed Transition is the result. I would like it to be a successful result but there are doubts.
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Carefully replaces gloves.]