Speaking of appropriate camo, the RAN operate their MRH90 Taipans in Army colours! Legend has it that it was to save money and have a versatile fleet to draw from EXCEPT that the Navy aircraft have numerous mods for ops at sea that the standard Army issue doesn't. I would hardly think that paint should be the equaliser...

The USMC doesn't seem to mind combat grey for all seasons and reasons and works effectively..

Most Navy pilots I've spoken to speak highly of the Lynx. Not spoken to any about Wildcat yet.

Lynx.....best naval helicopter the army ever had. Truth be told, it doesn't really matter what colour it is, EO spectrum will pick it up before the tiny part that is the mk1 eyeball does....hopefully the enemy will be so busy trying to work out what the Fcuk its for, it'll be able to slip away!

"The second-finest small-ship, anti-submarine helicopter ever fielded by the British Army" for the Scout Generation. ;)

From what I'm hearing it's going through the usual snags one might expect at this stage of the programme. Disappointing, but unsurprising.

That's a very army centric view of course.

Westlands have in fact made some world beating helicopters, the Lynx being an obvious one. The Lynx is and has easily been the finest small ships helicopter for decades. That is why so many foreign governments buy it for that role.

Unfortunately they then keep managing to persuade the government that the Army should buy a version of the helicopter that is crap for the army role.

Sweden requested 15 off the shelf UH-60Ms via the US Foreign Military Sales programme in September 2010, formally ordering them the following May. The first was delivered in January 2012, though they did not deploy them to Afghanistan until March 2013.

Not a bad effort from the Swedes. I wonder how we ie the UK, would fair?

The Wildcat cost us 12 million pounds an airframe, the Blackhawk is 8 million.

According to one the Wildcats test pilots I flew with for 9 months, it wasn't a patch on the Blackhawk.

Ever remember the recruitment poster they did when the original Lynx came out? it had half a chopped off oil can clamped on the exhaust as they used to scavenge oil out after shut down, I couldn't believe they used it as a recruitment picture...

Why are you comparing the wildcat to a Blackhawk?

They are not even slightly similar.

I flew Seahawk which is a more relevant comparison, but they are very different in role, plus once you add all the toys they cost a lot more than 8 million.

Don't get me wrong, Seahawk/Blackhawk is great but it isn't a Lynx competitor.

Do a quick google.

One is a medium size transport helicopter that you can add shooty bits to.
The other is a little naval toy shooty helicopter that you can stick some troops in.

Of course the Blackhawk is a better troop transporter.
I'd rather play amongst the trees in a wildcat though

I'm sort of with you there tourist, I flew Lynx in Germany for a while, it was great.....problem was it was ****e at its job.....:ugh:

Made a cracking campervan, even the version with the Whirlwind oleos and tundra tyres.

No, it's great at its job!:}

That job just doesn't happen to coincide with what the Army bought it for...

:D he he, no argument here!

We, the British, do have a habit of rubbishing everything we do.

The Lynx is still the fastest helicopter ever made. It was the first properly aerobatic helicopter.
I suspect strongly that it has sunk more submarines than any other helicopter, plus almost certainly more ships.

It has sold very well worldwide, which is usually a good way to judge.

To be fair, I believe all the other purchasers were Navy....

Ok, for balance....Compton Webb make excellent berets.

Not quite. The Qatari Police bought 3 AH1, but struggled with the concept of ACC Drive starts.

Tourist, did you ever meet Charly Zimmerman and his Bolkow whilst we were still anti-tanking in Scouts? Try a google or You tube him.

Not much relevance when the standard, non tweaked versions were VNE'd at 155kts(IIRC).