Brown looks at £1bn helicopter order
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I can see the entry in the F700 now...
Merlin turns over, but fails to start...
Joking aside, glad to hear everyone got away with their lives.
Just goes to show how tricky this dust landing malarkey really is.
Merlin turns over, but fails to start...
Joking aside, glad to hear everyone got away with their lives.
Just goes to show how tricky this dust landing malarkey really is.
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What's wrong with buying a few Blackhawks from Westlands ? I thought years ago they had a licence to build them from Sikorsky , I seam to remember them acquiring one as a demonstrator for possible overseas sales & even converted it to fly with Rolls Royce engines .
Work for RR & Westlands .
Work for RR & Westlands .
If a brand spanking CH47F is about £20M per copy then how do 20 of them add up to £1Bn? that's an awful lot of Through-Life-Support!!! (about £600M by my calculations!).
I've heard a rumour that the £1Bn is for a bigger spend on not just helicopters - I just can't get anyone in Town to confirm it (but something is going on).
I wonder if Mrs Janes' outburst to the PM on the lack of military spending, and the Govt's willingness to splash money on our beleaguered Banks, has anything to do with this announcement?
The B Word
I've heard a rumour that the £1Bn is for a bigger spend on not just helicopters - I just can't get anyone in Town to confirm it (but something is going on).
I wonder if Mrs Janes' outburst to the PM on the lack of military spending, and the Govt's willingness to splash money on our beleaguered Banks, has anything to do with this announcement?
The B Word
Red On, Green On
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Rumour control suggests that a grey Merlin had a hard landing on one of the cousins' war canoes recently, though it stayed upright.
Maybe enough good parts from the pair of them to make one good one?
Maybe enough good parts from the pair of them to make one good one?
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AA, not a rumour at all, it happened and photographs have appeared on the net, a Canadian ship If I remember correctly, ship came into port and the Merlin was lifted off by crane and roaded out.
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Tee hee
Mate, you haven't done the Staff course have you..??????
Scrap the aircraft carrier orders, scrap the nuclear deterrent replacement and there should be enough in the budget to finance essential equipment for our forces. The Puma refurbishment and Seakings should be scrapped and replaced with Merlin and Chinooks, as should the pathetic upgrading of the Lynx engines and the purchase of the Future Lynx.
Sounds a bit drastic I know but its the only way to properly equip our brave men and women in the armed forces who are in harms way every day.
Sounds a bit drastic I know but its the only way to properly equip our brave men and women in the armed forces who are in harms way every day.
Spot on me thinks - Looks like all the ducks are lining up ready to announce the demise of Puma and Merlin. So, Belvedere II - close Benson, sell it off and find a new JHC base as Odiham is too small to house another 20 cabs - the site would have to be leveled (like Northholt) and started from scratch.
Of course all this is just rumor
Last edited by Grimweasel; 11th Nov 2009 at 17:32.
So, Belvedere II - close Benson, sell it off and find a new JHC base as Odiham is too small to house another 20 cabs - the site would have to be leveled (like Northholt) and started from scratch
Been away from Benson for a while now, so things may have changed, and granted there would be need to be some infra changes, but surely it would be cheaper than upping sticks completely, especially having forked out to convert 78 Sqn's hangar and with the sim on the same site?
Melchett01,
I think you are rather forgetting the presence of 33 Sqn at Benson and the fact that 230 Sqn are about to move in from Aldergrove.
I think you are rather forgetting the presence of 33 Sqn at Benson and the fact that 230 Sqn are about to move in from Aldergrove.
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Originally Posted by Seaking93
AA, not a rumour at all, it happened and photographs have appeared on the net, a Canadian ship If I remember correctly, ship came into port and the Merlin was lifted off by crane and roaded out.
I/C
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Perhaps these (as I know we have done to death) would be the better, more prudent buy for the CHF.
Not least because this method of folding a Chinook's blades The Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter - Folding the Rotor Blades. looks like a right PITA
Maybe that's why we fly them from place to place - quicker, easier, less to go wrong with complicated folding mechanisms, less weight.....
Not as much fun as cramming them all into a floating steel box where one missile can take them all out in one go....
Not as much fun as cramming them all into a floating steel box where one missile can take them all out in one go....
it'll never catch on
pr00ne -
Unchecked beat me to it. My cunning plan works on the basis that the CH-47 and the Merlin are roughly the same size, and therefore with a bit of thought and careful planning you should be able to get a smaller number of CH-47s into the same real estate currently occupied by almost 30 Merlins.
I can't remember off the top of my head the exact size of the Puma force, but whilst things are certainly cozy at Benson, they are certainly coping. And if push came to shove, I'm sure you could come up with some cunning plan that involved somewhere like Little Rissington (currently home to a VGS) or Kidlington to house the AEF / UAS.
Yes it might take a bit of intellectual horsepower to work it out - which would be a novelty rather than just saying 'yes Sir, splendid idea' or employing a firm of consultants on an exorbitant fee (then we could only get 18 new cabs!) to state the bleeding obvious. In our current, ahem, straightened times throwing money at some half arse plan like Belvedere which didn't work to start with really should be a non-starter now. Let's actually make us of the resources we have and if needed spend the consultancy fees on bringing them up to scratch so they are fit for their current and future purpose.
Unchecked beat me to it. My cunning plan works on the basis that the CH-47 and the Merlin are roughly the same size, and therefore with a bit of thought and careful planning you should be able to get a smaller number of CH-47s into the same real estate currently occupied by almost 30 Merlins.
I can't remember off the top of my head the exact size of the Puma force, but whilst things are certainly cozy at Benson, they are certainly coping. And if push came to shove, I'm sure you could come up with some cunning plan that involved somewhere like Little Rissington (currently home to a VGS) or Kidlington to house the AEF / UAS.
Yes it might take a bit of intellectual horsepower to work it out - which would be a novelty rather than just saying 'yes Sir, splendid idea' or employing a firm of consultants on an exorbitant fee (then we could only get 18 new cabs!) to state the bleeding obvious. In our current, ahem, straightened times throwing money at some half arse plan like Belvedere which didn't work to start with really should be a non-starter now. Let's actually make us of the resources we have and if needed spend the consultancy fees on bringing them up to scratch so they are fit for their current and future purpose.
And if push came to shove, I'm sure you could come up with some cunning plan that involved somewhere like Little Rissington (currently home to a VGS) or Kidlington to house the AEF / UAS.
deeceethree -
Not sure what the argument was back then or when it was, but I'm fairly certain 637 VGS are currently operating motor gliders out of there, as well as Devonair conducting various aspects of ac engineering / servicing. Plus, I think it was designated a core site up to 2030 under the Defence Estate development plan, as part of which it was looked at as a relief landing ground for Brize and Benson.
Looks like the NIMBYs might have to get some ear plugs!
Not sure what the argument was back then or when it was, but I'm fairly certain 637 VGS are currently operating motor gliders out of there, as well as Devonair conducting various aspects of ac engineering / servicing. Plus, I think it was designated a core site up to 2030 under the Defence Estate development plan, as part of which it was looked at as a relief landing ground for Brize and Benson.
Looks like the NIMBYs might have to get some ear plugs!
Caz
Indeed there is - I was simply illustrating a point. But now you mention it, Chalgrove could be a better bet. Being well out of the UAS system, do they still chop studes? If so, how about a Martin Baker let down over the fenceline for those that don't quite make the grade!
Indeed there is - I was simply illustrating a point. But now you mention it, Chalgrove could be a better bet. Being well out of the UAS system, do they still chop studes? If so, how about a Martin Baker let down over the fenceline for those that don't quite make the grade!