Puma Upgrade

[BEagle]

An urgent operational modification has been brought into service to enhance the combat effectiveness of the RAF's Puma force:

http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/news_0611_14.html

Well, that'll help. Good news that it only took a month for various august committees to decide upon how best to daub a splash of paint on the ageing old beasts..... Splendid to learn that MoD has its priorities soooo well sorted out....

But isn't the RW force supposed to be.........'joint'?

[Brain Potter]

Quote

Hopefully the markings will ensure the RAF Helicopter Force is not mistakenly named 'Army Helicopters' in the press and it gets full credibility for the positive work it is doing in the Gulf

Shall we paint Ryanair on the side of the TriStar in the hope that they will then get "full credibility" for the glorious airbridge from the press?

[MINself]

What about when it gets dark and our troops or the Iraqi insurgents can't see the branding on the Pumas, do the PR gurus at the RAF intend to hang neon signs from these venerable machines or should the wasted time and money on this ggggreat idea have been better spent on something that would of made a difference to our servicemen and women.

Mmmm let me think, like maybe putting back that Tristar spare wheel that the RAF thought to remove from Cyprus in the name of saving a few quid! There by avoiding having to task precious service AT to take a wheel out to a grounded Tristar and allow our troops to get home rather than being stuck in transit accomodation wasting precious days of their R & R because of these so called ggggreat ideas.

[charliegolf]

Safer if they were painted brilliant white with "I'm on your side*" in big, black letters.

*(you tw&t : optional).

CG

[ShyTorque]

A whole month - and they go and paint a bl**dy target on the side?

Amazing idea - and so versatile - it will apparently work on other helicopters too? Well done, someone.

[Melchett01]

Normally, any modification to an aircraft can take many months to actually get onto an aircraft due to the lengthy processes through which it has to pass; in this instance it was achieved exceptionally fast, Defence PR tasked the IPTL on 15 September 2006 and painting commenced on 14 October 2006.

Was it Nero that fiddled whilst Rome burned? I can't see this as being anything more than fiddling at the expense of the real problems. It's good to see though that when they really want to (ie when they get a chance to look good) their airships and the IPTs can pull their fingers out. If they can get things done in such short order on the PR front, what about the rest of the things that need sorting.

Guess the guys don't need the extra cabs out in Herrick or armour in general. And I don't mind waiting a few more months for my LSA and Op 'Bonus'. Think the PR boys will help out there? Thought as much

[tucumseh]

The serious side of this is that some utter ******* plank in the IPT is obviously under the impression managing this “project” constitutes “experience” for promotion purposes. The upper reaches of DLO and DPA is full of them.

[dessert_flyer]

Must of been a slow news day on the RAF website, old and unservicable AT assets delaying servicemen out of theatre is obviously old news, and happens all too often.

[hobie]

what's the story behind this version ....

[Twopack]

If it hadn't been on the RAF website I would have thought this was a spoof.

''IPT Engineering Authority, blah....''

''Puma Depth Support Hub, blah, blah...''

''Defence PR tasked the IPTL, blah....''

How many agencies???? And the writer seems pleased it took a whole month for them all to get it done !! Could have been done a lot quicker than that, painting a ferking roundel and 'RAF' on a chopper!!! At what cost for some PR?

MORONS! Rant Off

[Climebear]

Originally Posted by hobie

what's the story behind this version ....

If you need to ask.....


tiger, tiger

[L1A2 discharged]

.. just when we've sacked all the painters too ..

And who will apply the paint scheme in 2 years time?

Painters are being removed from the inventory

[forget]

I read through this post thinking it was just another bitch about nothing - until I went to the RAF Web Site and saw what it was all about!

This is a bloody disgrace - what's happened to the RAF. Does a ten minute paint job need a PRESS RELEASE! Last time the RAF had anything to do with me was 1969 - but it seemed to work OK then.

Timelines were as follows:
15 Sep Defence PR tasked IPTL
18-19 Sep Service Modification Leaflet Written
20-22 Sep Trials and Sample Photos
27 Sep Defence PR endorsement received
28 Sep Commander JHC endorsement received
28 Sep -14 Oct Release to Service Approval, MOD London
14 Oct Aircraft Painting Commences!

[Archimedes]

Defence PR are going to be so pleased when news of their spiffing idea (inevitably) makes its way onto 'the army means', and from there, via the lurking journos, into a variety of newspapers.

[hobie]

If you need to ask.....

tiger, tiger

Danke ......

[Tourist]

I would love to make use of the endless possibilities that this generates to take the p1ss out of you crabs, but I just know that some chimp in RN PR will do something worse within the month.........

[Talking Radalt]

Originally Posted by Tourist

I would love to make use of the endless possibilities that this generates to take the p1ss out of you crabs, but I just know that some chimp in RN PR will do something worse within the month.........

Whoa there! Haven't RN helicopters been wafting around with the corporate "Royal Navy" ensign logo on the side for many years now?
Certainly seen photos of SKs in Bos, Iraq etc painted thus.
Plus Yeovilton tower has now got some bollocks slogan painted on the side.
"Flying with a difference" or something. To whom are they advertising exactly? Themselves?

[movadinkampa747]

Look front Lynx on the door. Oh dear. Tourist would you like a banana?

[Tourist]

And somebody has put their back wheels on squint!

[Shackman]

As part of an MoD directive aiming to improve the recognition of RAF helicopters on operations

Presumably this is to ensure our 'clients' (the PBI) will now be able to wait at the bus stop until three noisy whirly things come along and be able to tell at a glance which one is theirs. Apart from god knows how many hours of recognition training - which did sometimes seem a little wanting in the days of both Wessex and Puma with a load of bods trying to get in the port side - the fact it appears is a pretty good indication of what/who's it is. And as the 'enemy' don't seem to have rotary assets anyway they just shoot at any helicopter in passing so they won't take time to look to see if it has a new corporate logo.

The (words fail me) idiot who dreamed up this unforgiveable waste of expenditure and then has the temerity to advertise his cleverness to the world deserves sending to Helmand for the rest of his career. Putting a PR requirement and spending ahead of OR is almost criminal.

Our job is putting troops out and bringing them back, and it matters not what we may be called in the press. I've seen reports of RAF Sea Kings from Culdrose and Navy ones from Valley, RAF Lynx and Gazelles and lots of Army Wessex and Pumas. Yes it sometimes grates, and we seem to able to spend lots of time on this forum berating the press for 'inaccurate' reporting, but in the scheme of things is it that big a problem! The professionals know who did it, and as far as the public are concerned they probably couldn't care.

Edited to add:

On second thoughts maybe someone who can get things moving this quickly should be posted to head up the new Carrier team, in the hope it will appear some time this century.

Rant over, back to more wine!