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RAF announces Puma Replacement plan

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Old 4th October 2023 | 09:46
  #481 (permalink)  
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From: Falling off the end of the thread
But it does look the part


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Old 4th October 2023 | 21:32
  #482 (permalink)  
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From: Escrick York england
Originally Posted by pba_target
If the Army took the Merlins for NMH would they be the first airframe to serve in all 3 services? (Airframe, not type). Wondering if any of the gazelles switcheroo'd in their time?
gazelles were used by all 3 services 4 if you count the marines
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Old 4th October 2023 | 22:17
  #483 (permalink)  
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From: Alles Über
Originally Posted by md 600 driver
gazelles were used by all 3 services 4 if you count the marines
I believe pba was getting at have any specific tail numbers operated under all 3 services (Booties have RN ID cards). Some Gz gen here

It's probably a stretch to claim a training aircraft like the Juno has operated under 3 services, depending on which Sqn was flying it at the time?
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Old 5th October 2023 | 00:48
  #484 (permalink)  
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From: Falling off the end of the thread
Chipmunk served all three.
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Old 5th October 2023 | 10:28
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From: Lost again...
Originally Posted by NutLoose
But it does look the part


Looked the part then fell apart!
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Old 6th October 2023 | 15:47
  #486 (permalink)  
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From: Downeast
Legacy airframes have a lot of merit that new unproven, unbuilt, and un-tested designs have to offer.

The new Night Stalker Thread here at Military Aviation has a very nice photograph of a Blue Camo paint scheme on a 160th Blackhawk seen in northern Alabama.

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Old 6th October 2023 | 18:15
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Anyone care to bet on when the Puma HC3 programme will be announced?

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Old 6th October 2023 | 20:23
  #488 (permalink)  
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From: Den Haag
Originally Posted by OvertHawk
Anyone care to bet on when the Puma HC3 programme will be announced?
sad but true
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Old 7th October 2023 | 12:37
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From: California
Originally Posted by OvertHawk
Anyone care to bet on when the Puma HC3 programme will be announced?
The current Puma fleet will be wheeled into a secret hangar under cover of darkness. There will be sounds of drilling and hammering for many weeks, and then the new Puma HC3’s will emerge, and bear an uncanny resemblance to the Australian Taipan, albeit with RAF roundels. 😜

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Old 7th October 2023 | 21:28
  #490 (permalink)  
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…and it’ll cost a fortune! Far more than just buying new helicopters in hindsight.

LZ
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Old 8th October 2023 | 00:27
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From: Falling off the end of the thread
Or they could be wheeled out of the hangar and a mass scrapping carried out behind screens to be followed by a capability gap of many years…. Ohh wait, that was Nimrod.
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Old 8th October 2023 | 07:33
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Originally Posted by SASless
Legacy airframes have a lot of merit that new unproven, unbuilt, and un-tested designs have to offer.
.
Just keep the Pumas then?
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Old 8th October 2023 | 13:34
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From: Downeast
NO.....as they are. not fit for purpose.....unless you dumb down the specification so they are.

How would YOU sped a new Puma variant that would match or exceed the capability of a UH-60M?
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Old 8th October 2023 | 14:08
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I was winding you up SAS.
Blackhawk is the only logical choice... logic however being something we have lacked for considerable time.
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Old 26th October 2023 | 19:39
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Originally Posted by Ammo Boiler
I was winding you up SAS.
Blackhawk is the only logical choice... logic however being something we have lacked for considerable time.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techa...ddb500e8&ei=14
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Old 4th November 2023 | 13:47
  #496 (permalink)  
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From: The back of beyond
Originally Posted by SASless
Legacy airframes have a lot of merit that new unproven, unbuilt, and un-tested designs have to offer.

The new Night Stalker Thread here at Military Aviation has a very nice photograph of a Blue Camo paint scheme on a 160th Blackhawk seen in northern Alabama.

All legacy airframes were once unproven, unbuilt and untested designs, so not sure your logic really holds up.
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Old 5th November 2023 | 05:51
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True, but for anyone looking at a new and untried (In-Role) platform, 'Risk' and unknown 'NRE/RoM costs' alone, should be front-and-centre considerations on your KUR radar.
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Old 5th November 2023 | 09:45
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As idyllic as the buy the US OTS option sounds, the practicalities of politics get in the way. Remember our AH 1Ds had different engines (to keep UK suppliers and voters happy) but with the RTMs came a change in fuselage dynamics when the cannon was fired and Boeing wanted even more money to re-jig the fire computer algorithm so the cannon got more accurate instead of less as rounds were fired.

Then you had the fiasco of the AAC being forced to sign off delivery at Middle Wallop for a number of Apaches that were flown there, had the MFDs removed (because there was a shortage) and then driven back to Yeovil to be installed in the next one. Now, such shenanigans could also be experienced dealing with a UK or EU supplier but you can be pretty certain that the required UK spec for UH60 would be different from US spec and extra costs would be involved in modifying it.

Not sure what the perceived problem with Puma 2 is, most of the Puma 1 s foibles have been removed and although not a specialist in any particular area, manages a reasonable fist of most jobs it is asked to do.
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Old 5th November 2023 | 14:57
  #499 (permalink)  
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From: Downeast
All legacy airframes were once unproven, unbuilt and untested designs, so not sure your logic really holds up.
Study up on the original UTTAS program and you might think a bit differently.

Ask John Dixson who frequently posts here about his personal experience as a Test Pilot for Sikorsky during that procurement program that resulted in the the UH-60 Black Hawk winning the competition.

The key is how it is "spec'd", "tested", and "certified".

The US Army did it right on the UTTAS Program and learned from that.

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Old 5th November 2023 | 16:11
  #500 (permalink)  
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From: England
Originally Posted by [email protected]
As idyllic as the buy the US OTS option sounds, the practicalities of politics get in the way. Remember our AH 1Ds had different engines (to keep UK suppliers and voters happy) but with the RTMs came a change in fuselage dynamics when the cannon was fired and Boeing wanted even more money to re-jig the fire computer algorithm so the cannon got more accurate instead of less as rounds were fired.

Then you had the fiasco of the AAC being forced to sign off delivery at Middle Wallop for a number of Apaches that were flown there, had the MFDs removed (because there was a shortage) and then driven back to Yeovil to be installed in the next one. Now, such shenanigans could also be experienced dealing with a UK or EU supplier but you can be pretty certain that the required UK spec for UH60 would be different from US spec and extra costs would be involved in modifying it.

Not sure what the perceived problem with Puma 2 is, most of the Puma 1 s foibles have been removed and although not a specialist in any particular area, manages a reasonable fist of most jobs it is asked to do.
I doubt Leonardo will want to build a Puma under licence from a competitor.
Really the Puma and the Black Hawk will have similar issue if the clowns at the M.O.D are allowed to interfere.
You would have thought we had learned a few very expensive lessons by now.
Political interference is the biggest problem.
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