If I'm correct, the Dauphin with the journalist was the only aircraft that had two on board, which is probably why it was reported that way, but the section of helis shifted thirteen in total. And they were on time too! Of course it would be nice to lift more troops with fewer helis but 145s are no better. For instance, seven Alouettes could lift 28 fighting order troops and the 4 Dauphins could lift a further 24. That's 52 by my basic maths. If the 135s are committed to training, that leaves the 145s with a capacity of 8 in the back. So 4 can lift 32 troops in total. Now we aint talking huge distances in either scenario, and people may argue that not all the Alouettes and Dauphins will be available at the same time, but how often are all the 145s going to be available at the same time? You could lose 2 Dauphins and 2 Alouettes to servicing or other commitments and still retain the same capacity as all 4 145s. And before anyone says I've miscounted the seats in the Dauphin and Alouette, I'm allowing them a certain amount of spare lift capacity which is standard in tactical operations (which I haven't for the 145 which would place it further at a disadvantage). What I'm getting at is that we are taking a step backwards from current military capacity by looking at a fleet of 6 luh and especially by looking at a civil heli like the 145 which has no provision for weaponry, no special team insertion capability, no countermeasures and is unlikely to stand up to heavy military (ab)use.
