Era late 1980s and a joint planning exercise ran a scenario involving the rescue of a bus-load of holiday makers from an area of the world they shouldn’t have been in. As a planner for the rotary aspect I was very interested in the capabilities of V-22, still at that time in development. Using the advertising data from the manufacturer and factoring it down to represent our view of reality in service, we developed a fictitious squadron of V-22. It was 66 Sqn and we had it deployed with a capability to launch 8 airframes on task.
We ran the scenario against our current rotary assets and some Tac AT in support. We used all the UK military’s rotary assets (RN/RAF/AAC) except the SAR buoys and I think 4 Hercs for the job and it worked out at 4 days to do the job with considerable risk of exposure and compromise.
At the end of the exercise we briefed the staff on the same op with our fictitious 66 Sqn doing the job ……. 4 hours in and out!! We actually thought we could do it in 1 hour 35 mins but decided we needed a deception plan to enhance survivability and maintain security.
Either way we all realized it was a major game-changer. Pity UK Mil PLC didn’t see the same potential. Would have loved to have had a go myself to prove our theory but if we ever do get this baby I will be well and truly in a care home.
Kbc