Chinook - Still Sitting in a Shack

[Flugplatz]

Set our Chinooks free!!

Sweepstake on hour/date/year the get released back into Op Service? :confused: (not critical just trying to egg them on!)

Flug:8

[Sven Sixtoo]

Sorry dont understand.

Has the chinny fleet been grounded?

[Archimedes]

I think flug is referring to the Mk 3s?

[Hangar_9]

Never is the answer. We might as well face facts and let them back out as mk 2's! :uhoh:

[South Bound]

Service, or Op service? The two might be distinctly different, but even if the farce only provide ac that are usable in the UK, it should provide extra capability. Not soon enough is the answer - shame people have only shown an interest recently...

[Rotary Girl]

Hangar 9 - maybe I'm missing your irony, but that is exactly what IS going to happen sometime in the next decade.

I think I must be getting dizzy with all of the spin that the govt puts out about the Mk3s

According to the National Audit office Report published last month LINK HERE (http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/07-08/0708512.pdf), the MOD claim that the Mk3 Reversionary aircraft will deliver the badly needed Heavy Lift Capability to the front line 2 yrs before the Fix to Field prog for the Mk3s that was cancelled last yr.

BUT, the capability will be less than that that would have delivered as the previous requirement was for "Special Operations".

So, the solution is to put Mk2 airframes through a modification programme to bring the Night Enhancement Package up to a suitable level. This essentially means ripping the analogue cockpits out of the Mk2s (yup - the same cockpits that they are putting into the Mk3 Reversionary project) and replacing them with a digital cockpit that was going to go into the Mk3s in the Fix to Field project.
So they are
delivering the Mk3s 2 yrs before Fix to Field
Starting a seperate programme to achieve the Fix to Field Capability (with attendant costs and risks)
Introducing a further variant into service Mk2s, Mk2As, Mk3s and now the Mk2upgrade (Mk2Bs?)

And yet the National Audit Office report tries to convince us that by adding 8 Mk3 aircraft to the fleet and yet removing Mk2 ac from the fleet at the same time gives us more aircraft and provides value for money?:*

Who else can see the announcement shortly after the Mk3s enter service along the lines : " MOD announce fantastic programme to upgrade Mk3s with digital cockpit to provide enhanced capability for Special operations"


I obviously am missing something...nobody with half a brain would believe that this was the best way to do things...surely?:zzz:

[jayteeto]

:ugh: the 'let them out as mk2's' was a joke!! :ugh:

[Flugplatz]

Thanks Rotary Girl,

All the convolutions and mis-statements with changes of plan coming from the MoD left me none-the-wiser. Having mainly seen this whole debacle only on TV, there always did seem to be some really obvious unanswered questions (although the reporters also seem to love to cover any bungling or contradictions! - deserved in this case). It just shows that when the aim keeps changing then delay is inevitable.

Joe public would find it hard to make sense of this story, hence my original post of when will they actually be out of the hanger (in whatever form) and in service/training/op (doing a useful military task)?

Lastly, the TV said they had 'never flown'. What never? I assume they at least have done some test flights or routine engine run-ups to keep them in trim? probably fantasy that last one.
Flug

[lightningmate]

Rotary Girl,

Published NAO Reports concerning UK MOD projects have almost no resemblance to the original drafts produced by NAO investigating officers. The published Reports are emasculated with all evidence of UK MOD senior staffs' gaffes removed, or so watered down the errors cannot be identified.

As you rightly observed in your post, this cannot be the best way to bolster the Chinook Force. I suspect there will be many a sleepless night for desk officers in the Chinook IPT over the forthcoming months.

lm

[Pilot Pacifier]

Just for you Flugplatz...

http://www.pprune.org/forums/military-aircrew/317000-chinook-hc3-salisbury-plain-07-03-08-a.html

[Flugplatz]

Nice one Pilot-pacifier!!:ok:

Great shots all-round; still think the Chinook display is the most awesome - close up and half the civvies just can't believe what they're seeing!

Flug