UK Royal Navy pilots to train on H135 and H145 helos from 2018

[Zarvan]

A computer-generated impression of the Airbus Helicopters H145 in its UK military training livery. UK Royal Navy pilots will join those from the Royal Air Force and British Army in being trained on both the H135 and H145 from 2018 through to 2033, under a new GBP1.1 billion contract awarded on 20 May. Source: Airbus Helicopters
UK Royal Navy (RN) rotary-winged pilots are to be trained on Airbus Helicopters H135 and H145 twin-engined platforms from 2018, under a new GBP1.1 billion (USD1.5 billion) contract announced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 20 May.

Under the contract awarded to Ascent Flight Training, which provides pilot training on behalf of the MoD under the UK Military Flight Training System (UKMFTS) programme, Airbus Helicopters will provide 29 H135 and three H145 platforms out to 2033. Airbus Helicopters' share of the new UKMFTS Rotary-Wing (RW) contract is given as GBP500 million.

UKMFTS RW covers rotary-winged training across all three of the UK's armed services, and will involve the manufacture and delivery of aircraft, the provision of instructors, the building of infrastructure, and the training of initial RN, Royal Air Force (RAF), and British Army crews and maintenance personnel.

The RN's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) currently has about 500 pilots (including about 50 from the Royal Marines), and now fields only rotorcraft with the retirement of the BAE Systems Harrier combat aircraft in 2010. The Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is not due to enter operational service until 2018 (and will not see carrier service until 2021).

Naval helicopter crews are presently trained alongside those from both the RAF and Army Air Corps (AAC) aboard single-engined Airbus Helicopters H125 (formerly AS/EC350) Squirrel and twin-engined Bell 412EP platforms at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, AAC Middle Wallop in Hampshire, and RAF Valley on the Isle of Anglesey. After training, RN crews are then streamed onto their operational type of either the AgustaWestland Lynx/Lynx Wildcat, Westland Sea King, or AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin. By the time that the new UKMFTS RW students begin graduating, the older Lynx HMA8 will be retired and the phasing out of the Sea King Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASaC) 7 platform will be well under way, if not already complete.

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