Defence Committee questions Puma upgrade

The UK government’s Defence Select Committee has questioned the merits of upgrading the RAF's fleet of Puma helicopters.

Gary Parsons - 5-Mar-2010


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March 5: The UK government’s Defence Select Committee has questioned the merits of upgrading the Royal Air Force’s fleet of Puma helicopters, some of which are approaching 40 years old.

In its ‘Defence Equipment 2010’ report published this week, the committee “remains unconvinced of the financial or operational merits of the Puma Life Extension Programme”, citing a lack of assurances from the Ministry of Defence over the helicopter’s “crashworthiness” and the delivery timescale for the upgrade.

Under a £300 million contract announced last September, the RAF will get 28 updated Puma HC2s with new engines and a new avionics package, extending the type’s useful life through to 2024.

The committee’s report also states that the proposed delivery timescale for the buy of 22 new Chinook helicopters by 2012 is “optimistic”.

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2 Comments

Pete Berrill said on the 6-Mar-2010 at 12:17

The ideal answer to the puma question would be replacement of the aircraft by the Merlin. But it is clear that the finance is simply not available and upgrade of exsisting assets is the way to keep badly needed helicopters in the air. Is the puma the ideal helicopter to upgrade? soon the RAF/RN SAR Sea kings will be redundant due to a contractor taking our this duty, could these helicopters along with RN mark 5+6 Sea Kings in storage be better candidates for upgrade to a battlefield support helicopter? The Fleet Air Arm have been operating an improved version of the mark 4 Sea king in Afganistan. Many of the Sea kings age between 18-30 years I think this is a better option than upgrading aircraft that are 40 years old or more, and into the bargin i think a more capable aircraft lies in the Sea King. If i am wrong i stand corrected.

mike lynn said on the 10-Mar-2010 at 12:58

with the merlin already in service and doing a fine job why not increase the fleet at what must be less cost long term than dodgy upgrades?

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