kev 99A British RAF fighter jet has crashed inside NATO’s largest base in southern Afghanistan today, just a day after a Russian-owned civilian helicopter crashed at the same base.
The two crew members from the Tornado jet managed to eject before the crash, which happened as the aircraft was taking off from Kandahar Airfield.
They are now being treated in hospital for unspecified injuries.
Yesterday, 16 people died when the Russian-owned helicopter crashed at the airfield.
NATO says there is no indication of Taliban involvement in either crash.
There’s a couple of other links to various news sources available from Newsnow that also state RAF, nothing on BBC though.
kev 99Rehursing for a display?
kev 99Use of the term “Cut and Shut” probably came from the original newspaper story that it appeared in (I believe it was Daily Star or News of the World) and the BBC has picked up on, as such it shouldn’t surprise anyone that such an sensationalist term was used.
kev 99Regarding BBCs coverage of the impending Iraq war I simply believe the BBC reflected the public opinion of the time which was not favourable. Once things kicked off they reported a great deal more impartially than some other news organsations, particly those blighted by the foul hand of Murdoch.
kev 99If we go to Blackhawk or NH90 we will be repeating history and adding yet another small fleet to the inventory. We must take the opportunity to consolidate on three to four types – Chinook, Merlin, Wildcat and perhaps a light utility type to be used to replace Bell 412/212, A109E etc, perhaps A109, maybe AW149 but a type mainly for the non op stuff and training leaving a frontline fleet of the first three.
I absolutely agree. The only thing really stopping this from happening is the money situation so we buy small fleets at a time that in the end cost us more money.
kev 99Connected story:
Red faces after jetty damaged
Last updated 11:40, Wednesday, 15 July 2009
A £150M floating pier built for Barrow’s nuclear powered Astute class submarines has been damaged.
By Jon Simpson
Red-faced Royal Navy and contractor’s officials at the Faslane nuclear submarine base were angry at the leak to the Scottish press about the damage to the recently completed Valiant jetty where the class of Astute boats will ultimately dock and be serviced between operations.
Water flooded into two of the seven sections of the pier during an operation in which steel piles taller than Nelson’s Column were being attached and pile driven into the bed of Gareloch where the based is located.
An estimated two million pounds-worth of damage was done when water flooded into the hollow concrete pier sections damaging vital cabling.
A naval bases spokesman said there will be a delay in commissioning the massive 40,000 tonne pier which is longer than two football pitches and is designed to float up and down the piles as the tide rises and falls. But he said: “They are saying in the press there was a blast but there was categorically no blast. The water leaked into the first section and flooded it and there was some flooding of the second section, causing some damage to the electrical work.”
He said the incident and rectifying it was a matter for contractor Morgan Est. Despite the delays to the completion of the Valiant Jetty the Navy says the Astute submarine programme’s timescales won’t be affected. The first Astute submarine is expected to leave Barrow this summer – though a date has not yet been given.
The Faslane spokesman said: “We are still assessing the situation. There is likely to be some delay but it won’t affect the Astutesubmarine programme. The jetty was never going to be the point of arrival for Astute. That was never the programme.”
The big base has several other jetties, including those used by Trident submarines.
kev 99Because it would cost money and the Government doesn’t seem to want to spend any on the military.
kev 99I thought Barrow had been withdrawn from building any sections of CVF so it could concentrate on subs?
kev 99I don’t have a particular problem having an raf helicopter with some bits cannibalised off a captured Argentine one, it’s not as if we don’t do it to our own after all.
kev 99How can upgrading 33 pumas for an extra 7 years be classed as good value or is it a european thing they can’t even say its for uk jobs because the upgrades are being done in eastern europe and how many of the 120 new helicopters are the wildcat respun?:confused:
the Lynx Wildcat order is 62, that leaves 58 new helicopters to replace the Seakings and Pumas (approximately 70 aircraft). This clearly isn’t enough.
kev 99Just stumbled upon this, it’s from a weblog so obviously can’t vouch for validity, much of it looks pretty reasonable though:
Helicopters: The True Story
Iain Dale 8:02 PMThere has been a lot of hot air this week about helicopters and the armed forces. I have received an email from an authoritative source who outlines the current position. I thought you might be interested in its contents. The author has given me permission to use his name, but I am not going to in case he suffers any consequences. He served in the RAF for ten years and was involved intimately in the Chinook reversion programme.
Hi Iain
Having listened over the last couple of days to the arguments that have been taking place in the commons I thought I would bring some things that you may or may not know to your attention in relation to the state of the rotary lift capacity of the MoD.
The eight Chinook Mk3 special forces helicopters purchased in 1996 will potentially cost £363 Million when (if) they become operational. The Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Defence and the PUS for Defence Procurement stated that some of these helicopters will be available at the end of the year. ZH*** has just entered the beginning of flight trials. Aircraft 2-8 are in various states of reversion and aircraft 8 has been cannibalised to such an extent that it is very unlikely that it will ever become operational. The likelihood of any of these aircraft being ready and available for operations this year is very slim. The aircrews have to be trained and flight certified, the ground crews have to be trained and certified. The aircraft has to be released as fit to fly and has to be retrofitted with the required DAS equipment that is still in trial at ******* **** to get it to theatre entry standard.
The UAE offered to buy the aircraft off the MoD.
You can buy a CH-47D which is the US standard Chinook or what we call the Mk2a for £20 Million.
JHC current order of battle states that it has 29 Chinook helicopters at its disposal for the front line (Source MoD Defence Statistics 2008). Assume that a third of the fleet are at various states of, minor, major and primary star (categories of maintenance) so are unavailable for operations.
Assume that a third of the fleet is being used for continuation training, OCU and trials. That leaves roughly 10 aircraft that can be deployed. 10 Chinook helicopters are currently deployed on Op Herrick. Assume that a third of the deployed fleet are grounded due to maintenance etc
Therefore the UK Chinook force in Afghanistan is roughly 6 helicopters that can be provided by flight operations for duty.JHC current order of battle states that it has 23 Puma helicopters at its disposal for the front line (Source MoD Defence Statistics 2008). The Puma is non deployable to Afghanistan. It does not have the required power to operate within the flight envelope required by the user.
JHC current order of battle states that it has 6 Lynx AH7, 59 Lynx AH7/9 and 42 Gazelle helicopters at its deposal for the front line (Source MoD Defence Statistics 2008). The Lynx and Gazelle helicopters are non deployable to Afghanistan. They do not have the required power to operate within the flight envelope required by the user.
JHC current order of battle states that it has 15 Merlin Mk3 (22 initial purchase) at its disposal for the front line. Assume that a third of the fleet are at various states of, minor, major and primary star (categories of maintenance) so are unavailable for operations. Assume that a third of the fleet are is being used for continuation training, OCU and trials. That leaves roughly 4/5 aircraft that can be deployed.
4 Merlin helicopters are currently deployed to Iraq. Assume that a third of the deployed fleet are grounded due to maintenance etc. Therefore the UK Merlin force in Iraq is roughly 3 helicopters that can be provided by flight operations for duty.
JHC current order of battle states that it has 3 Merlin Mk3a (6 purchased from Denmark). These aircraft were promised in 2008. Here we are in 2009 and still no deployable airframes.
JHC current order of battle states that it has 26 Sea King Mk4 at its disposal for the front line.
Assume that a third of the fleet are at various states of, minor, major and primary star (categories of maintenance) so are unavailable for operations. Assume that a third of the fleet is being used for continuation training, OCU and trials. That leaves roughly 8 helicopters that can be deployed.CHF splits its time between supporting Op Herrick and supporting 3 Cdo Bde RM deployed at sea. They can only operate in Afghanistan with Carson Blades.
The MoD is spending £70 Million on re-engining (8) Lynx AH9 helicopters with uprated engines. These aircraft are delayed.
The MoD bought the Bell 412 (Huey) to be used in hot and high climates like, Cyprus, Belize and Brunei. These aircraft can be bought for £2 Million. The US Army is modernising Jordanian Huey aircraft for £2 Million with modern avionics, armour etc for the Iraqi air force.
The NH90 is available for £14 Million (Internet source) and shares the same engine as the Merlin. For £70 Million you could buy 5 NH90 and these aircraft come with the added bonus that they can be built at Westland.
The Puma fleet has had its day. They are short of Puma qualified pilots (11 short) and the aircraft is becoming more expensive to maintain. The MoD is short of rotary pilots. A pilot takes roughly 3 years to become combat ready. However OCU conversion to another type can take as little as 6 months.
The Lynx AH7/9 fleet is reaching the end of its operational usefulness. OCU conversion to another type can take as little as 6 months.
All military rotary pilots that use Chinook, Merlin, Sea King and Puma do their multi engine rotary training on the Bell 412 therefore they are type certified to fly it.
All Lynx AH7/9 pilots are introduced to the Bell 412 so are aware of it.
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/07/helicopters-true-story.html
kev 99There will need to be more ordered to replace the Trafalgars and maintain the necessary drumbeat to retain skills for the next generation of SSBNs. I can’t see a sub being called Ark Royal, I wouldn’t bet against Achillies or Ajax though.
kev 99Pictures of the Island Mock up to test the arrangement of the Islands it is currently being constructed on the isle of Wight.
That second picture, a mock up of a mock up. Odd.
kev 99Those are planned though. As far as I know there’s no current road map for an ARM though.
Yes they are, seems a bit strange to me that ALARM isn’t though.
kev 99An ARM would be nice. HARM or ALARM aren’t integrated yet, and would be a nice asset for increasingly mobile SAMs.
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