MoD chiefs unveil upgrade
25 January 2010
The RAF’s fleet of Chinook helicopters has been boosted with the unveiling of the latest version at RAF Odiham.
With enhanced performance capabilities, the first Mk3 helicopter was put through its paces under the watchful eyes of Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth and the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support Quentin Davies.
A further seven Mk3s will follow later this year providing the RAF with a greater capacity for training and operations in Afghanistan.
The Mk3s entry into service has been severely delayed as the cockpits on all eight had to be refitted at QinetiQ’s Boscombe Down facility in Wiltshire.
Mk3s already come fitted with more powerful Honeywell engines (giving a 17 per cent increase in power and a five per cent increase in fuel efficiency), a secure communications package and an upgraded defensive aid suite.
After the refit, the cockpits are practically identical to that on the Mk2.
The aircraft have two 3000kg capacity fuel tanks either side of the cabin (giving it a more bulbous look) which are twice the size of those on the predecessors.
More fuel can be carried in the cabin of the Mk2, although at the cost of its payload capacity.
Over time, all Mk2 versions will have the same engine, communications and defensive aids upgrade.
Some Mk2s have already been flying on Op Herrick with the new Honeywell engines.
The RAF currently operates a fleet of 38 Chinook Mk 2/2a support helicopters in three operational Squadrons 7, 18 and 27 along with the Operational Conversion Unit based at RAF Odiham in Hampshire.
Officer Commanding 18 Sqn Wing Commander Reg Barker said: “All eight Mk3s give us a boost to the fleet, meaning we can do better training in the UK and we can increase our capability in Afghanistan.
“The aircraft is intrinsically the same. We are not learning to fly new aircraft, there are just a few differences.
“When it’s in a hover, it handles slightly differently as it is a bit more bulbous. It is also slightly different if you start throwing the aircraft around and that’s relevant if you are trying to do evasive flying – as pilots do on operations in Afghanistan.”
Chinooks are used for a variety of roles includes carrying up to 55 troops or 10 tonnes of freight.
The crew comprises two pilots, or a pilot and a weapons systems operator and two air loadmasters.
The delay in getting the Mk3 helicopters into service was recognised by the Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth at RAF Odiham.
He said: “We have learned the lessons of a procurement like this. It’s taken a long time and it has not been our finest hour.
“But let it now be recognised that a lot of hard work has gone into getting these helicopters into service and some tremendous work has been done.”
Quentin Davies added that the procuremement process has been completely transformed since the Chinooks were first ordered in 1994.
At the end of this year, as part of Project Julius, the first Chinooks will be fitted with ‘glass cockpits’, that will see the existing analogue dials replaced by glass screens.
Chinook Force Commander and RAF Odiham Station Commander Group Captain Steve Shell said: “Glass cockpits will make operating the aircraft easier and therefore safer – flying the aircraft will become more intuitive and pilots can concentrate on the bad guys outside the cockpit.”
He added: “On the engineering side of things analogue cockpit buttons and dials stop working with sand and oil.
“Glass cockpits are not affected by that.
“One flat glass screen will give you seven bits of information rather than seven different dials.”
The first Chinooks with glass cockpits will enter service in 2011.
Last December Mr Ainsworth announced an additional 22 Chinooks are to be ordered that will eventually take the Chinook fleet up to 70. The first 10 should come into service in 2013.
Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff Joint Helicopter Command Air Commodore Simon Falla said: “There is an enduring need for the Chinook on any battlefield that we can imagine our forces would be engaged in. It does not matter if you look at this in terms of the UK facing a counter insurgency force, or whether it is a major war on the scale that we were thinking of during the Cold War, the Chinook is the right aircraft.”
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