Naval Heli Ops in Ireland -

[Silver]

With the withdrawl of the Dauphins (apparently!) imminent -

Have we seen the last of Naval heli operations in Ireland ?

[Imshi-Yallah]

Yes
Unless we get a Blue/Green role ship and an operational role for Army support helicopters

[clan]

Watch this space Silver, with talk about a Naval supply ship about to be ordered plus the new "Large" Naval ship that will replace Emer within three years, to help support Irish troops in the ERF plus UN missions. There seems to be a shift towards Army/Aircorp/Naval joint ops for the future.

[Silver]

Very interesting clan.
I hadn't heard about those developments.

If they come about it bodes well for the future of both the NS and the AC !

[FMolloy]

There have been rumours that when the next NS vessel is withdrawn from service, it will be replaced by a bigger & more capable type. What types they're considering is anybody's guess.

I doubt very much the NS will procure a ninth vessel any time soon, they don't have the manpower to crew that many ships.

[pilatus]

Clan do have the website adress to find out more about these new ships?it would be interesting to see AC,NS&ARMY working 2gether on 1ship!

[clan]

Unfortuantly the downside to the same story was lack of manpower to crew the ship.
Pilatus, I read about it on IOM.

[Bitch]

Lads as a former member of "Naval Squadron" with our two dedicated Naval retro fitted Dauphins, Delta 244 and 245, The crews who operated on the P31 had not an ounce of interest in being on board any Naval Vessel on any seaboard let alone the West Coast, try it! The operation was a failure from the onset and if Sailors want to fly then let them set up their own Naval Air Sqdn. Trust me lads it was not a nice place to be in the weather that we get off our western/south western coasts. I was glad to see the back of it all.

[Silver]

I agree, Naval Service personnel should pilot/maintain (while on P31) any future naval-equipped helis.

Interestingly, Air Forces Monthly predicts that 2 x EC135's and 4 x EC145's will be purchased, and they will be equipped for naval ops !

[sealion]

This would be difficult,as both have skids,and would require a trolly to get them in and out of the Hangar. Not ideal in anything more than a 5.
AFM often get their speculations way off. In any case the EC145 is not a Military Helicopter.

[FiannaFail]

Quote (Silver @ 09 June 2004,22:51)

Very interesting clan. I hadn't heard about those developments. If they come about it bodes well for the future of both the NS and the AC !

To replace the LE Emer or the LE Eithna?
FiannaFail

[pilatus]

Quote (Silver @ 22 June 2004,17:55)

I agree, Naval Service personnel should pilot/maintain (while on P31) any future naval-equipped helis. Interestingly, Air Forces Monthly predicts that 2 x EC135's and 4 x EC145's will be purchased, and they will be equipped for naval ops !

nowere does it suggest that these helis will be equipped for naval ops!naval helis and army helis are completly different it is possible to fly a navy chopper from shore but flying an army chopper from a ship is a different matter!navy choppers need a radar to fulfill their role properly and are not equipped for troop transport however the royal navy built a hybrid version of the seaking with a mix of navy avionics built into a strenghened airframe of a commando(army seaking)to allow it to absorb heavy deck landings.the tender does not suggest that any of this be built into the UHs or even mention them in this role!if MLHs are looked into again they would consider naval ops purely to support foreign deployments of the army.

[Silver]

I am aware of the differences in navy vs army helis.

AFM suggests that the helis will be naval ops capable.

[Taj]

What Pilatus is saying is that on the factual evidence that is the tender document, the helicopters will not be equipped for naval operations and AFM's(who have obviously not seen the tender) speculation is way off the mark so it is pointless getting excited about it.

[pilatus]

exactly Taj!AFM has some good articles every now and then but a lot of the stuff in their news section has nothing to fall back on!for the last 5years iv been reading the magazine iv noticed mistakes in every issue and thats no exaggeration!any of you that read it will know what im talking about!