Puma Replacement
 

Just wondering what to replace the mighty Puma with?

Now my personal favourite is the NH90, but seeing how the Americans bought the Merlin, should we buy blackhawk? Maybe we should just get rid of our medium lift capability and buy more Chinook and Merlin.

On top of all of that does anyone have any idea what the Support Amphibious and Battlefield Rotorcraft (SABR) project actually is?

NH-90 gets my vote, I would even volunteer to be staff on the Evaluation team / OCF. Better still, base it somewhere civilised north of Watford Gap.

An oxymoron surly?

;)

"On top of all of that does anyone have any idea what the Support Amphibious and Battlefield Rotorcraft (SABR) project actually is?


Cancelled.

NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 NH-90 or Cougar.

SABR-SAR isn't cancelled - they just have a £5 budget....

NH90 eh? Looks gucci with loads of toys-but then so did the Mk3 Wokka! With £1.5 Bn cut from the helo procurement budget, affording more Lynx, Merlin, Chinook & NH90 is going to be difficult. We've pretty well committed to the Flynx (to keep the Yeovil DIY Superstore happy), Chinook is a sure-in as CH53X is still a paper cab and helo coherency is all about minimising the number of types. WHL will fight b****y hard to sell more Merlin, esp as a CHF cab (one logs trail with the pingers et al..). So, how can we afford NH90 as well? It doesn't fit in with coherency to have another type (though it seems the Canadians don't worry about this..). Best bet for a cheap Puma replacement? Give Mr Carson in the US all of the Mk4 Sea Kings and as many Mk6s that we can afford to modify. Result? A 140kt King which we already have an infrastructure for and know how to defend! Do it now while the exchange rate is so good! Or, we can scour the world for more Pumas and dumb them down to our level....

I've got a great idea!

How about a licence-built Westland S-70C Blackhawk, re-engined with the Rolls Royce RTM 322? I'm sure it'll fit straight in......

Whaddya mean, they thought of it before? It flew in 1986? Oh yes, I remember; it was when they were talking about replacing the Puma.....and the Wessex :rolleyes:

Irreplacable surely, however should we run short there is bound to be at least one in Monaghan.

I think Sea King Mk6C is a prime contender to replace the Puma as a 'stop-gap' measure, ie until 2040. There is still about 40 airframes which could be converted relatively cheaply as has already been said the rationalisation in the support chain would be huge (60+ people in the Puma/Gazelle IPT for starters-including my wife!).

It would be nice to think the whole fleet would than be 'Carsoned' with the new blades/Indian tail rotor/new lift frames, effectively re-lifing the airframes and giving us the 140kt (vmax, 125 kt cruise), 7,500-8500lb payload, as well as up to 25% more power, but that would involve significant investment and smart acquisition only applies to shiny new kit which runs massively over budget, not commons sense.

Replacement for the Puma - Land Rover Wolf and 4-ton trucks of course.

With tail numbers a'la RAF Collective Training the other year?

:rolleyes:

After some digging, I now know that the SABR project has been absorbed by the Future Rotorcraft Capability programme. This also includes the RN's Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft (SCMR) and Army's Battlefield Light Utility Helicopter (BLUH) projects. The latest rumour is that the Merlin Mk3+ is too expensive and the Super Lynx is too small to fufill all the requirements. I've also found out that EADS have offered to build the NH90 at Yeovil, now that'll be a barrel of laughs. I do like the look of the NH90 and it does come with some pretty cool toys, plus it has extremely low radar and IR signatures, which will be great against those buggers with double digit SAMs.

Please don't mention Canada, helicopters and procurement in the same post.

I wrote some more on this but every word was libellous - had to go! :D

Didn't the MoD purchase a number of low time frames from SA a few years ago?

Yes, the MoD did buy a few SA airframes, not sure if they will ever hit the hanger floor beforet the Puma is retired.
NH90 please, why did we buy more Lynx??
The Puma has been used all across the world and has been a reliable and robust platform while other types have been out of there depth. She is still heavily involved in ops across the globe, currently operating on 3 continents!

Anorakky question I know, but why is the BLUH a helicopter, while the SCMR is a rotorcraft?

Is it just that the Dk Blue think they are more h'educated than wearers of khaki?

Or could it be that the SCMR might be an autogyro?

V-22 Osprey is a rotorcraft....

I guess the EC-725 is too obvious?

NH90 would be an obvious choice.
more merlins/chinooks to reduce types in service.

One would think the Blackhawk would be the right answer....just as the Apache was for the attack aircraft.

Mind you....by the time you get through tinkering with it, we will all be in our graves feeding worms....if the Apache purchase or the Chinook avionics fit is indicative of how it will go.