Military AI Works

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/ ... ture.shtml

This was covered on the BBC tonight

Gary

You also have to bear in mind that the MH-53J's have just left the
UK as well. From memory I think these only performed one rescue in the mid 80's picking up the crew from a tanker ship off the east coast.
Could or would the new blackhawks that are at Mildenhall or Lakenheath ever be called into action

How about using Merlins for the long-distance work? Sounds like the obvious choice.

VulcanDriver wrote:How about using Merlins for the long-distance work? Sounds like the obvious choice.

From Iraq? That'd be long distance, sure enough.

Blimey don't tell me we have no Merlins in the UK! What have we got left in Blighty?

Not a lot. Even the RN Merlins are multi-roled now, fulfilling SH tasks as well as ASW.

Yep, Don't forget that we had to beg for choppers off of the Danish Air Force as we had seriously under-estimated what we needed for our committments.

Good grief... !!! I'm speechless.

You'd be even more gobsmacked if you went along and saw the reality at the coalface! Even the crews back at base look shell-shocked with the little time they have between deployments.

Politicians don't make good decisions when they have no military experience.

Indeed. Harold Wilson wanted the UK to send troops to Nam when LBJ asked in 1968. (Sound familiar? Only the names have been changed!)

Dennis Healey, who had fought all the way from the D-Day beaches to Berlin, told him not to even think about it. Wilson refused and saved us all the grief that would have bought us. Wilson got the praise for keeping us out of Nam but it was a man who know combat who really should take the credit. Wilson BTW did not experience any combat at all as he was a University lecturer and exempt!

Hi,

Here's a pic of the first of the flying Merlin HC3As (the one's 'acquired' from the Danish order) overshooting Marham this last friday morning. Note the different profile on the nose.



I'm a couple of miles from a RAF SAR flight ('B' Flight, 22 Sqn - Wattisham airfield) and these are putting in some long hours. The usual two on the flight, plus the local police helo must fly more hours than all the based Apache's combined. A few years ago I was on a visit to 22 and was amazed too be told that at that moment there was only one spare, serviceable engine on the complete RAF SAR fleet. Somehow, I don't think things have got any better. They were asked about the prospect of a Merlin SAR replacement and dismissed the thought (this was before the PFI farce was considered) because it was too big, and the down force was too much for SAR use. Be interesting what the Canadian's think of it, as they use it in that role.

Gary