Andrew Neil mauls lickspittle Bill Rammell
Another “Minister” who requires firing for Gross dereliction of Duty.
Also worth looking here to see what helicopters we have available for use in the Forward Fleet as at June 2008, very little has changed since then. Remember these are the total available to all our forces cross the world. This shows that only roughly 60% of helicopters are available for active use. Table is produced below.
Helicopter Type Departmental total (total fleet) Number available (forward fleet) Number current and qualified pilots Chinook 48 29 109 Merlin 70 41 108 Puma 45 34 95 Sea King 135 69 223 For the purposes of MOD reporting, the definition used for the number of helicopters available for use is the number in the Forward Fleet. This figure excludes any aircraft undergoing programmed upgrades, major repair or awaiting disposal.
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Categories: Afghanistan, Labour Ineptitude, Politics
FL can I pinch that? It deserves more exposure doesn’t it.
Yes please do. Why should we have to put up with these donkeys.
Those figures are within the entire MOD and are not an accurate reflection on the current subject of helicopters needed in Afghanistan. For example, there are indeed a number of Merlin helicopters but only a certain percentage of that number will be able to perform the role required in Afghanistan. Some are Navy helicopters and the crews are not adequately prepared for the task, some are new helicopters that are not adequately modified to be used in such an operation at present. In addition, the other helicopter types are not always what is required for the roles that the Army needs support with – the Sea Kings are search and rescue helicopters not troop carriers.
Quite agree and that’s why I put up the comments before the table. Unfortunately they are about the best figures we have for what might be available as a whole. The government don’t want to release more detailed figures as they might being passing on information to the enemy who obviously are incapable of counting. One wonders if they might just be embarrassed at the the capability we actually do have in Afghanistan.
Well the RAF has a total of 28 Merlin helicopters including the 6 Danish HC3a ones according to their freely available information on the MOD websites, so I would think it was safe to presume that the rest belonged to the Navy etc. The MOD are right not to release exact figures on what is available to the general public though. The Taliban are not idiots, they adapt quite quickly to new information and that includes the amount of helicopters that may or may not be going to Afghanistan. If we suddenly announced that we were sending, for example, 10 Merlins to Afghanistan in December, do you not think that by December the insurgents will have managed to work out where we’ve just been the infrastructure to accommodate them and have adapted their missile capability to match our air capability?!