Merlin HC4 prepares for delivery

Rick Ingham MERLIN HC4 ZJ120 ‘D’ recently emerged from the Leonardo Helicopters factory at Yeovil, Somerset. The helicopter is apparently fully fitted out ready for delivery. In its operational ‘fit’, the Merlin HC4 includes a refuelling boom, various additional antennas and what appear to be new countermeasures dispensers above the side door and below the cockpit. Together with ZJ127 ‘L’, ZJ120 is planned to be one of the first two HC4s to be delivered to the Fleet Air Arm in