LONDON - Britain is reconsidering its military rotor wing strategy and expects to deliver a new plan to achieve an affordable force later this year, according to the Ministry of Defence.
News that a new rotary wing capability study was underway at the Ministry of Defence emerged at a land warfare conference held in London last week when the man leading the effort, Maj. Gen. Bill Moore, said work was being conducted to deliver a coherent helicopter plan in line with the government's scheme to restructure the military, known as Future Force 2020.
Moore, the MoD's director of battlespace maneuver, is heading a steering committee that includes senior officers from the Joint Helicopter Command and others.
The revised strategy is expected to be complete by the autumn, according to a MoD spokeswoman.
The MoD said in a statement that any significant changes to the helicopter strategy resulting from the review and from a separate three-month study of all defense sectors to better match priorities and budget resources would be announced to Parliament.
"The rotary wing capability study will re-examine defence's helicopter requirement to deliver the Future Force 2020 vision set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review and ensure a balanced and affordable plan which delivers the right rotary wing force mix for defence," the MoD said.
The move comes as the government continues efforts to reduce defense budget deficits in response to severe cuts in funding over at least the next four years and the need to close a huge over-commitment in equipment spending over the next 10 years.
The rotorcraft capability work may herald cuts to helicopter procurement, but industry executives and the military here are keeping their fingers crossed that the study will result in only modest reductions across the helicopter fleet.
Requirements for equipment, training, basing and others areas will all be swept up in the study.
Civilian search-and-rescue requirements will also be looked at in the wake of the recent collapse of the SAR-H deal, which would have involved an industry consortium taking over from the military the role of running those services around Britain.
A new way ahead for providing search and rescue could emerge from the Transport Department later this summer.
The re-examination is the latest of several rotary wing studies undertaken by the British over more than a decade in an attempt to achieve coherence in what has proved a controversial area of defense operations.
The previous government was heavily criticized for a helicopter procurement policy that left the armed forces chronically short of lift capability in Iraq and Afghanistan. That problem was notionally resolved just ahead of Labour being ousted by the Conservative-led coalition in May 2010 by an order of 22 new Chinooks from Boeing plus replacement of two additional machines written off in Afghanistan.
The new government cut the plan to 12 plus 2 Chinooks and last year handed over money to Boeing to start working on long-lead items and a design review. A production order has not yet been signed but a Boeing spokesman said they expected the first aircraft to be on the assembly line in Philadelphia next year.
Britain plans to start drawing down its forces in Afghanistan ahead of a complete withdrawal of combat troops by 2015, but Moore told the Royal United Services Institute conference in London that the MoD still "needs to buy additional Chinooks to improve our lift; our lift at the moment will not allow us to do what the government requires us to do."
The MoD said in the statement it remains committed to the plan to buy 12 additional Chinook helicopters for the Royal Air Force, as well as the attrition buy of two machines.
"We are currently negotiating with industry on the main investment decision on these helicopters," the statement said.
Boeing reinforced that message, telling reporters in the U.S. on June 7 that the number of helicopters under discussion remained as advertised.
One industry executive, though, said he had heard the number may slip to single figures and a second executive said the "odds on achieving 12+2 are very long at the moment." That was denied by the Boeing spokesman.
The British plan is to reduce helicopter types to the Chinook and Apache attack helicopter from Boeing, the Wildcat and Merlin machines from AgustaWestland, and the Eurocopter Puma, which is being upgraded. The Sea King is scheduled to come out of service in 2016.
Moore said the Puma improvement was needed quickly to "drive resilience for Afghanistan".
The Sea King will exit service in 2016 and Merlin will transfer to the Royal Navy for use to lift the Royal Marines from their present battlefield lift role with the Royal Air Force, Moore said.
"We have Wildcat coming into service but we have to do something with our [Apache] attack helicopter. We have the capability sustainment program and we need to build on that, and probably need to align ourselves with the U.S. Block 3."
A replacement for the Lynx helicopter, the Wildcat is scheduled to be in service with the Army in 2014 and the Navy the following year. The machine will provide reconnaissance, troop transport and other roles in the Army while in the Navy its prime use will be as an anti-surface combatant.
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