Frankly British defence helicopter procurement has gone from a mess to utter farce!

With the very public and shrill cries for Chinook in the press we have a very ill-informed large procurement that won’t enter service until after the bulk of forces have left A-stan.

If the Puma had been replaced in the 90’s with Westland Blackhawk (but resisted by the RAF) then we would of had decent and cheap to maintain medium lift capability for A-stan (and Iraq when we were there). It would also of been a suitable replacement for Army Lynx.

The Lynx Wildcat is a waste, Merlin and Super Lynx 300 would be fine for the navy if purchased in decent numbers.

Sea King is perfectly fine in ASR and Mountain Rescue with an overhaul (new cockpit, engines, drive train and Carson blades – all available off the shelf via Carson Helicopters). When they finally do wear out then a follow on Merlin order is the order of the day.

That could be strongly argued for but the navy has always preferred types that can fight hot wars against peers.

I would think Ocean and two Bays.

Albion and Bulwark have decent command and control facilities that the Bays don’t possess. Ocean is fairly worn and closer to OSD anyway albeit it would be a painful loss. As the Bays are faily new there is probably a ready market for a couple of them.

Other option is to get rid of Argus but it does mean losing her capabilities. There was a proposal a while back to convert a Bay into a replacement for Argus. So the solution could be get rid of Ocean and Argus whilst converting a Bay.

Its really too early to be clear about what aircraft have been shortlisted for the Indian contract. Frankly Indian defence procurement is such a mess its difficult to draw any conclusions about their intentions.

Serbia can barely afford to service the tiny number of Mig29 they currently own. Typhoon is waaaay too expensive for them to buy or operate, I would think they would prefer Russian at the moment of they can scrape together the funds for new Mig29 maybe Su27/30 variant but again probably too expensive.

I would say there is a good chance of a Saudi follow on order and Oman is a strong bet.

Not to say that Israel can deliver a knockout blow, but they can retard Iran’s progress and try to wait for “regime change,” preferably from within.

It is increasingly unlikely that the programs progress could be hampered that much now and any attack would strengthen the regime.

It was never denied on the contrary…latest answers from squadron commander Grandclaudon in DSI and Captain Romain are still unanswered (see above). Look at the chronology and the content. These two latest articles are answering JL accusations in the Aviation week interview.

Grandclaudon exaggerated simple as that the 7-1 figure is BS as is the F-22 one and the SEAD stuff was a clear lie.

As I said why bring it up again? its boring.

Also still don’t see any Rafale expot sales:diablo:

Only a small picture included, lower block two taking shape in Portsmouth.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8320118.Landmark_reached_in_construction_of_supercarriers/