1Brightront,B gUBtKCofBiBogB - Tangent Link

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Search and Rescue Conference

SAR 2013Brighton, UK

Conference report

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Alan Warnes looks at some of the highlights coming from the 17 speaker presentations at the above event, held at Grand Hotel, Brighton on June 4-5, 2013.

Chairman: Rear Admiral Terry Loughran CB FRAes

Principal VIP Sponsor: Avincis

Strategic Sponsor: Airborne Technologies

now a new network is being created that will we brief people as the system evolves. Most employees are now positive about the way ahead.

Civil helicopters at four bases will expand to ten. Bristow Helicopters won a 13 year contract [worth £1.6 billion signed on March 26, 2013] that will start from 2015, with all the Sea Kings gone by 2017. Retirement of the Sea King was the ‘tipping point’ for the contract.

The decision to out source the SAR work was not taken lightly, and seeks significant investment from Bristow Helicopters. Many nations are looking on to see how this will work, looking at it as a novel approach to maintaining a 24 hour SAR capability.

There will be ten bases housing 22 helicopters, every aircraft will bear HM Coastguard livery and there will be strict guidelines to ensure it operates well.

New service will be 360 degrees - inland and at sea. As a result the coastguard could in effect take on Police and Air Ambulance responsibilities. One central co ordination centre will create a more efficient system and helicopters could multirole, if some had the appropriate equipment on board.

We are looking at the idea of integrating the Air Rescue Coordination Centre at RAF Kinloss into the MRCC, probably in 2017 when the new contract starts. Bringing the ARCC into the MCA responsibility would make the operation slicker and undoubtedly save some costs.

The Coastguard operates civil helicopters, so it was decided that UK SAR could easily fit into its network.

There is also a case for looking at the Fixed Wing capability, as SAR goes out to 30 degrees west (917 miles from Scottish coast) and there was no replacement for the Nimrod when was retired [in 2011]. We can use the C-130s some times and MPAs from partner nations. We have outsourced some work to Cessna 400s [Reconnaissance Ventures Ltd] looking for oil pollution as ‘top cover’.”

A HM Coastguard AW139 put on a SAR demonstration with a RNLI life boat on the second day of Tangent Link’s UK SAR Conference

in early June. All photos, Alan Warnes

Vice Admiral Sir Alan Massey KCB, CBE, Chief Executive of

Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) delivers his keynote

speech at Tangent Link’s UK SAR Conference.

TANGENT LINK was delighted to secure the services of Vice Admiral Sir Alan Massey KCB, CBE Chief Executive, Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) to deliver the keynote speech:

“While most people are aware the UK’s Search and Rescue (SAR) role is going through a period of change, the MCA is also in the midst of restructuring. There were 18 Rescue Monitoring Coordination Centres (RMCCs) running largely because of the enthusiasm of people working in them. However, it was inefficient with three people generally working at any one station regardless of conditions time of year or workload.

A decision was taken to cut the number to 11 with 68 people, with three open 24 hours but it was rejected by workers and

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John Morphew, Assistant Director, Asset Management of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, is tasked with delivering

the UK SAR helicopter programme.

“There are mechanisms in the contract to ensure Bristows

meets the availability goals and other targets and the

response times will be the same as now.

Lt Andy Watts 771 Squadron CO talked of his unit’s rich

tradition, born from the North Sea floods that affected East

Anglia and the Netherlands in 1953. He went on to tell everyone

that the Sea King retirement is expected to take place in

March 2016. This relies upon the MCA’s new UK SAR contract

with Bristow helicopters being in place and ready. The Royal

Navy helicopter Search and Rescue (SAR) celebrates its 60th

anniversary this year.

John Morphew spoke about the key features of the UK SAR

contract and the timetable that will see Bristow Helicopters

take over from Navy and RAF Sea Kings.

“If the appropriate asset is owned by Bristows it will be

deployed whatever the emergency situation is. The contract will

commence in September 2015, there will be 22 helicopters – 11

AW 189s and 11 S-92s. Two will be used for training. These will

also be available for emergency call out during surge times”

*With the cutting back of 12 bases to ten, the coverage

currently being provided at Portland and Boulmer will see their

responsibilities taken on by other Bristow facilities.

The key features of contract are:

• 98% availability

• Response to SAR incidents within 15 minutes during the day

and 45 minutes during the night.

• A service that can reach all very high, high and 75% of

medium risk areas within 60 minutes of take off.

• Can surge multiple aircraft to an incident.

• All aircraft will be tasked by the MCA through the

Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) at RAF

Kinloss. MCA is keen to stipulate this is not privatization…

• Operating from ten bases

• All aircraft will carry HM Coastguard livery.

• An overall faster response time reduced from 23 minutes to

19 minutes.

The migration of military personnel to the contractors has been

controlled, under the Managed Transition agreement, to ensure

the Fleet Air Arm do not run short of key personnel. Anyone

interested should have applied by May 31, 2013. The crew mix in

the UK SAR contract is expected to comprise one third civilian

aircrew and two thirds existing military aircrew.

*UK SAR Helicopters Transition Schedule

Lot/Helo (No) Original Base Bristow Proposed Infrastructure Transition

1 S-92 (2) Leconfield Humberside New Build 1.04.2015

2 AW189 (2) Lossiemouth Inverness New Build 1.04.2015

1 S92 (2) Valley Caernarfon New Build 1.07.2015

2 AW189 (2) Wattisham Manston New Build 1.07.2015

2 AW189 (2) Chivenor Cardiff New/Hangar Refurb 1.10.2015

2 AW189 (2) Prestwick Prestwick New Build 1.01.2016

1 S92 (2) Culdrose Newquay New Build 1.01.2016

2 AW189 (2) Lee on Solent Lee on Solent Existing Facility 1.04.2017

1 S-92 (2) Sumburgh Sumburgh Existing Facility 1.04.2017

1 S-92 (2) Stornoway Stornoway Existing Facility 1.04.2017

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Captain Esteban Pacha, Director General, International Mobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO) spoke of his agency’s

responsibilities to its 97 state members. IMSO oversees public

satellite safety and security communication services to the

Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS). IMSO

also acts as co-ordinator of the Long Range Identification and

Tracking of ships (LRIT) system, which has been appointed

by the International Maritime Organisation to be established

worldwide. LRIT offers communication infrastructures to

disseminate maritime safety co-ordination, route distress calls,

locate and track ships in need of assistance and ensure proper

co-ordination of all search and rescue operations. The system

is being used in the Gulf of Aden and Western Indian Ocean to

provide naval forces involved in operations against piracy.

Lt Cdr Pedro Coelho Dias, Deputy Ops Manager at Maritime

Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) in Lisbon talked about

Portuguese SAR response. His SAR coverage is the second

biggest SAR region in the world, with an area of almost some

3,800,000 square miles (6,000,000 sq kms). The waters

are crossed by 180,000 different ships each year, which is

increasing. It covers the Lisbon – Azores-Madeira triangle and

the airborne assets used to cover are Portuguese Air Force P-3s,

Casa 295s and EH 101s.

UAVs trials have taken place to detect targets with constraints

but a system is being developed to keep a cheaper eye on the

coastlines, while working with the AIS.

Lt Col Chris Conway spoke of the need for a new fleet of Fixed

Wing SAR aircraft, based upon capability procurement rather

than using existing aircraft already in the RCAF inventory.

These are the candidates.

With the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) looking at a

complete solution to its Fixed Wing SAR requirements, Lt Col Chris Conway, the Director for Air Requirements (Air Mobility

and SAR) spoke of Canada’s current Acquisitions and its

future requirements.

Canada’s vast and unevenly populated country has lead to the

development of a unique SAR system that sees overland SAR as

important as overwater SAR. Stretching 3400 miles (5,500 km)

from east to west, with six time zones and a landmass roughly

equivalent to the European continent yet with only 5% of its

population, it represents a unique operational challenge. There is

seven million sq miles (18 million sq km) of land, six million square

miles (16 million sq km) of water to be covered and a population

of 34.5 million people.

It relies heavily on space based sensors and frequently on

CASARA (Canada’s Civilian SAR Association, while maintaining

eight aircraft (four primary Fixed Wing SAR and four Rotary

Wing) at five locations:

Comox, BC CC-115 Buffalo, CH 149 Coromorant

Winnipeg, MB CC-130 Hercules

Trenton, ON CC-130 Hercules, CH 146 Griffon

Greenwood, NS CH 149 Cormorant, CC-130 Hercules

Gander, NL CH 149 Cormorant

While the CC-130 Hercules now performs many of eastern

Canada’s SAR operations, the short take off and landing (STOL)

capabilities of the CC-115 Buffalo have kept it in use in the

Rocky and Coastal Mountain ranges. All six are employed by

442 Transport and Rescue Squadron out of Comox, BC. The

squadron is responsible for the SAR Zone stretching from the

BC – Washington border to the Arctic, and from the Rocky

Mountains to 1200 km out over the Pacific Ocean. The 13 CC-130s

are faster and with a longer range is more suited than the Buffalo

to attend a SAR emergency anywhere in the Canadian AOR. The

Hercules are flown by 413, 424 and 435 (T&R) Squadrons.

The RCAF’s primary dedicated SAR helicopter is the CH-149

Cormorant which operates in the most rugged of conditions. A

Mid Life Upgrade (MLU) is a necessity with new sensors a top

priority, initial operating clearance (IOC) for the MLU is 2020. The

three engined helicopter is operated by 103, 413 and 442 Sqn.

It is augmented by 15 CH1-46 Griffon painted yellow and

configured for SAR, surveillance, recce, casevac and relief

operations, they have also played their own part in national and

international humanitarian relief operations.

No 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron at CFB Trenton is the

primary SAR squadron, flying CC-130 and CH-146. The remaining

10 yellow CH-146s are split up between 417 Sqn at Cold Lake, 439

Sqn at Bagotvile and 444 Sqn at Goose Bay, all Combat Support

Sqns in support of Wing Utility and SAR Ops.

These are Secondary SAR Sqns and technically just the same as

the CC-138 Twin Otter, CH 124 Sea King and CP 140 Aurora that

form the second tier of SAR resources, as could a CF-18 Hornet.

The CC-115 Buffalos are expected to soldier on until 2018-2020

while the CC-130H is expected to continue to 2021. Canada

is now committed to replacing its existing Fixed Wing SAR

(FWSAR) fleet, with a new capability expected to have reached

IOC in 2017. It is imperative that a solution is found well before

they retire.

The RCAF want to acquire a new, already certified, FWSAR

aircraft fleet(s) with military aircrew and military first line

maintainers and a service life of 20 years. A mixed fleet is a

possibility if that is thought to be the best way ahead. There will

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The Icelandic Coast Guard’s Lt Cdr Reynir ‘Clint’ Brynjarsson,

a Helicopter SAR Crew member and helicopter technician

provided an overview of SAR in Hostile Environments.

The ICG’s main role is safety, security surveillance and law enforcement at sea, so it covers several roles:

• Fisheries control and enforcement

• Pollution surveillance and response

• Natural resources and ecology protection

• Protection against illegal activities such as illegal migration

and drug trafficking.

• Salvage and Rescue diving

• International co-operation

He provided some amazing footage of one of the AS332s

hovering over a ship with no power as it was tossed around

in the sea, trying to rescue the crew. Some of the imagery

showed how precarious the conditions are most of the time

during SAR missions around Iceland.

The Coast Guard operates three AS 332 Super Pumas and

a single Dash 8 Q300. The latter is impressively equipped.

With a maximum endurance of ten hours, normal surveillance

can last some 5-7 hours. The aircraft is used to monitor

vessels from all over the world in their waters, using a Elta

2022 maritime surveillance radar, MSS 6000 Side-looking

radar, Wescam MX-15 EO/IR sensor integrated with AIS.

Pretty impressive and its not surprising it has been used for

operations in Africa, Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean.

Integration of Irish Coast Guard’s Search and Rescue with a

Health Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) was presented by

Ciaran McHugh a SAR Winch Op and Winchman Instructor

on S92A.

The first HEMS approved S-92A has been operating from

Shannon since July 1, 2012 and will be followed by another

at Sligo on July 1, 2013; Waterford on September 1, 2013 and

Dublin in September 2013. A fifth training helicopter is being

used at Shannon but this may eventually move to Waterford.

The helicopters use a L3 Wescam MX-15Hdi for pinpointing

the emergency location.

The IRCG operated four S-61s but these are now being

phased out, with the first one already sold and further

examples will be retired as further deliveries take place.

Ciaran also mentioned that a Irish Air Corp AW139 is on a 12

month trial in the centre of Ireland being used as a back up

for the Irish Coast Guard. It’s trial has been extended for an

additional three months.

be one ‘single point of accountability’ with one prime contractor

for the fleet and a Canadian ISS integrator. Another stipulation is

that training has to be carried out in Canada.

It is a capability based procurement rather than prescribed-

based, when in the past the RCAF has used whatever aircraft

they have had in its inventory.

“It is a mandate to procure an asset that can get to the very

extreme” Lt Colonel Conway explained.

“We have already released many of the Basic Air Vehicle’s

requirements, and by late summer we will release the Draft

Request for Proposal, followed within a year by the full Request

for Proposal” he added

The platform should be equipped with a search-radar and a

dual sensor station, a SAR payload of 3374 lbs (1530 kgs), be

certified and fitted with a ramp.

Aircraft currently been considered are Embraer 390, V-22

Osprey, CC-130, C-27J, CASA 295 and upgraded Buffalo.

The Embraer 390 came to the competition late, but it is being

considered, although it is the only jet option. It would seem to

meet requirements and could do the job, but the challenge for

Embraer is the time frame. First aircraft has to be delivered in

2017, with IOC in 2018 and the aircraft has not flown yet. Full

Operating Capability is set for 2021.

The Osprey is an interesting option and could be a game

changer, with the tilt-rotor certainly posing a challenge to the

way the RCAF currently does FWSAR operations. The upgraded

Buffalo is being proposed by Field Aviation and Viking.

Baba Devani talks about Avincis, which unsuccessfully bid for

the UK SAR contract.

Roly McKie, Staff Officer Maritime Operations, MCA provided

a fascinating overview of the hazards that SAR and Offshore Renewable installations can offer. Offshore windfarms can

be particularly dangerous when a SAR recovery is required,

particularly the big blades that are getting bigger, and the

danger increases when there are a large number of them in a

confined area. A lively discussion took place with many people

providing input.

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HM Coastguard’s eight new MRCCs will be co-ordinated by the

NMOC as depicted here.

Future Coastguard Modernisation was presented by Peter Dymond, OBE the Acting Chief Coastguard, who has just a few

months to run until retirement. He definitely has had a busy past

few years…

He has been trying to modernize the Coastguard over the past

few years. There were initially 18 MRCCs grouped into nine

pairs covering specific areas. While the MRCC pairs offer some

support between the two MRCCs, beyond the pairings support

to the remaining MRCC pairs was sparse. Such structures

limited flexibility, resilience and interoperability between

MRCCs, making it difficult to spread workloads to cope with the

increases in emergency/non emergency calls between them.

“In recent years there has been a lack of progression in trying

to be more efficient. We are now trying with an improved level

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) area

of responsibility spans a whopping 11 million square miles (30

million square kms).

Dave Wilson is the Operations Officer/Watch Leader, Maritime

New Zealand at the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand

(RCCNZ) he provided a gripping insight into the dangers of

SAR in the Antarctic.

The RCCNZ’s erea of responsibility spans 11 million square

miles (30 million square kms), with New Zealand only

occupying 103,000 square miles (268,000 square kms) of that.

Many vessels down that way are in the area, to catch Toothfish,

a popular delicatessen in many countries, particularly in US,

where they are called Chilean Sea Bass!

As you can imagine there are many challenges when it comes

to SAR, predominantly the distances, resources and harsh

environment. The only SAR assets based in Antarctic are three

helicopters – an AS350 Squirrel and two Bell 412s. McMurdo

Sound where the US has a science station is some 3,700 miles

(5,954kms) from New Zealand’s capital Auckland.

Coverage can be maintained by US LC-130Rs based at

McMurdo Sound during the summer months, while C-17s can

also carry out the role while shuttling down from Christchurch.

The New Zealand Defence Force offers a C-130H, Boeing 757

and a P-3K Orion long range maritime patrol aircraft.

A bilateral agreement with Chile and Australia sees all nations

co-ordinate closely with each other in SAR jobs.

There were 18 SAR ops during 2012 unfortunately 33 people

lost their lives – 22 from the same fishing vessel. Dave spoke

of two SAR operations – one involved a Russian fishing vessel,

the Spartan with 32 crew members in December 2011. The

boat was taking on water and got stuck in ice and frantic

efforts over several weeks only succeeded when a Korean

vessel capable of breaking ice got to them and led them out.

In between the RNZDF had airdropped a pump in a bid to get

the water out of the ship.

The second operation involved a Twin Otter, C-GKBC that had

crashed at 13,000 ft close to the summit of Mt Elizabeth in

January 2012. Numerous efforts to find the aircraft which still

had its emergency beacon functioning, were attempted by

helicopters ‘leap-frogging’ to the crash site using fuel caches

dropped from the air. It took the helicopters four days to get to

their destination because of the bad weather, when they saw

that there had been a catastrophic crash that no one could have

survived. The earliest they will be able to recover the lost crew

will be October when the weather starts to improve.

This was one of the most interesting presentations, which most

people enjoyed.

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of service at less cost. This will lead to increased rewards

with more career opportunities for those working in the

Coastguard.” Peter told us.

There have been many consultations and the way forward is

now clear. The main requirement is security and safety which

will be achieved through:

• Maritime Surveillance – the systematic and continuous

observation of the maritime domain to achieve effective

situational awareness.

• Maritime Domain Awareness – the understanding of activities

carried out at sea to support timely decision making in the

fields of Maritime Security and Maritime Safety.

• HM Coastguard role – pro-active vessel traffic monitoring,

as per EU Directive and sharing intelligence data across EU

network.

There will be a fundamental shift of the area based concept

of operations with limited interoperability and resilience that

brings resource and functional challenges. Instead the national

networked service and concept of operations will become a

single virtual entity, nationally distributed for resilience and

retention of distributed knowledge.

These new MRCCs will be housed at Falmouth, Milford Haven,

Holyhead, Belfast, Humber, Aberdeen, Stornoway, Shetland

and Dover with a purpose built National Maritime Operations

Centre at Portsmouth which was earmarked as fire operations

centre but will now be at the hub of the maritime operations.

It was revealed during one of the subsequent networking

discussions that two Cessnas owned by Reconnaissance

Ventures (previously Air Atlantique) are re being used by the

HM Coastguard for surveillance. Meanwhile Direct Flight, with

two Cessna F406s, is being used by the Scottish Fisheries for

maritime surveillance work.

Marcus Gurtner, Chief Sales Officer of Airborne Technologies

told us of the turn key solutions in aircraft/sensor work the

company is involved in. Based at Wiener Neustadt in Austria,

Airborne Technologies is currently focused on the integration

of sensor systems on two fixed wing aircraft. The Tecnam

MMA, restricted to a 848 lbs (385kg) payload can be equipped

with an L3 Wescam MX 10 or FLIR Ultra Force 350 with a

Scotty Satcom and the Euroavionics operator workstation. The

other platform is the Vulcan Air P-68TC Observer with a MX-15

or FLIR Star Safire, a Scotty Satcom and Euroavionics operator

workstation. Airborne Technologies has recently delivered the

first such P-68TC to the German Police in Hessen while the

company has worked with Indra on a Tecnam P2006T MRI

(EC-LUM) for the Spanish Coast Guard.

Interestingly, Marcus revealed at the conference that Airborne

Technologies is now working on an Optionally Piloted Vehicle

(OPV) version of the Tecnam MMA with the impressive Selex

5000E Seaspray maritime surveillance radar. He expects the

OPV will be able to stay airborne for 10+ hours.

Airborne Technologies has recently upgraded two German

Police Eurocopter EC 135 helicopters with a new more modern

surveillance system. The work includes the L3 Wescam MX-15

with digital recording integrated into a new mission control

system. With carbon fibre used wherever possible, making it

lighter, an extra 20 minutes has been added to the EC 135’s

mission time.

Brett Hartnett is the Exercise Director/Technical Manager of

Exercise Angel Thunder a Personnel Recovery/Combat Search

and Rescue exercise that takes place in the south west of USA.

Some 23 nations attended with 3,017 participants and 109

aircraft at this year’s event. It has grown from 175 participants

in 2006.

Angel Thunder 13 trained 14 US squadrons for ‘spin up’ training

before deploying overseas, all in one area in two weeks. With

a budget of just $1.75 million, six full time and three part time

contractors managed to deliver an exercise that spanned New

Mexico, Arizona and California. The exercise covered 730 miles

(1175kms) heading west to east, including the Pacific and 280

miles (451kms) north to south, covering an area similar to the

same size as Afghanistan.

Participants came from the USAF, USASOC, USMC, USN and

US Interagency teams like US Forest Service and Homeland

Security Investigation. There were 13 international participants

and five observers. Brazil and Colombia sent a C-130 while

Singapore sent three CH-47Ds from Fort Rucker in Texas. On

one scenario A-10s landed and taxied across a dry lake bed,

while a HC-130 tanked HH-60s over the sea. “This was the

seventh Angel Thunder exercise, and unlike many US military

exercises hasn’t been a victim of sequestration because of the

value for money it is perceived to offer.” Brett told us.

Captain Sergio R Carbonelli discussed the Response at Sea in Spain. He is the head of International Relations, for SASEMAR

Sociedad de Salvamento Y Seguridad Maritima.

He gave a fascinating overview of how Spain prepares

and responds to oil spills at sea, often at huge expense to

the taxpayer.

Director of Operations for the French Air Force’s 1/67th

Helicopter Combat Squadron (EH 1/67) Cdt Guillaume Vernet spoke about the need for Long Range Combat SAR. The ability

to conduct missions with a limited footprint, an extended

combat radius and the capacity to manage equally rapid

response and long term operations is essential to the execution

of combat missions. The capability to recover isolated

personnel from hostile or denied territory is a key factor. Its

requirements are in-between political and military operations.

For that reason, nations or coalitions cannot plan on deploying

troops without a robust combat rescue supporting asset.

Having been on a three year exchange at Moody AFB, Georgia,

Cdt Vernet discussed CSAR from a US perspective and looked

at the unsuccessful bid to free the hostages in Iran in 1980 –

Operation Eagle Claw. He explained how a CH-53 hit a HC-130

while taxi-hovering that resulted in both aircraft catching fire

and destroyed, which meant five other CH-53s could not refuel

from the HC-130 and were left behind. Eight troops were KIA.

He pointed out that the CSAR title is no longer in vogue,

having now been succeeded by Personnel Recovery, which

encompasses the recovery of downed aircrew, captured people

(hostages) and other civilians in danger.

Operational effectiveness is improved by Forward Armament

and Refueling Points (FARPs) and he showed a map that

illustrated all the FARP locations in Afghanistan.

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Eight NH90s will be split between Beauvechain (4xNH90TTH)

and Koksijde (4xNH90NFH) with maintenance also carried out

at Beauvechain.

Lt Col Peter van den Broucke, the Commander of Koksijde Air

Base in Belgium provided an honest overview of the effects

the NH90 delays are having on his Belgium search and rescue

assets. Back in 2007, the Belgium Government ordered eight

NH90s – four in Tactical Transport version (TTH) and four in

a NATO Frigate Helicopter version (NFH). After 40 years of

dedicated service of the Sea King and Alouette III, the NH90

NFH is a welcome replacement for the Belgian SAR capability

and Navy seaborne operations.

Delivery schedules

No Initial Plan Revised Plan

NBEN01 June 2011 June 2013

NBEN02 Sep 2011 Oct 2013

NBEN03 Nov 2011 March 2014

NBEN04 Jan 2012 June 2014

However as the above table shows, the programme has been

delayed two years so far and Lt Col de Broucke is not hopeful

the revised deadline will be met. “As a result we will be forced

to re-invest in the Sea King. The old aircraft should be retired by

the end of 2015 but its more likely to be 2016 now. As a result

40 Squadron is likely to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the

Sea King that year…so we should have a big party!”

Delivery of the third helicopter in May 2014 is planned to

coincide with retirement of the first Sea King. Initial Operating

Clearance in December 2014 should see 60% of the 24 hour

SAR requirement being met by NH90. He is confident the first

and second helicopters would be delivered with in the revised

timescales, but was more skeptical about the third and fourth.

He voiced his concerns when I asked him about the likelihood of

the NH90s being delivered on time: “I am afraid that No 3 and 4

which have been shifted backwards to 2014 will not be ready. I

need these four machines to re-start [take over] SAR operations.

However in my opinion this is likely to occur sometime in 2016.

“What I hear from industry is that No 4 is ready for production,

but they don’t have enough parts to start working on it. So if

that gets delayed, I will be forced to go back to the Sea King”.

The first NH90NFH was expected to be handed over at

Eurocopter’s Donauworth plant in Germany, to the Belgium

Government on July 11, 2013 and it is then expected to be flown

to Marseille to commence pilot training. The new helicopter

completed its first flight on April 5.

Lt Col de Broucke summed up his frustration by adding

“European industry must improve its job, it should take a look

at itself because its reputation is at stake. These delays are very

frustrating and industry should be aware of that.”

He highlighted how the helicopter was vulnerable during air

to air refueling, while on a CSAR mission and gave an example

of this during a sortie in Afghanistan: “I took off from Kabul,

then head for tanker support in RC North. The doors of the

helicopter (EC 725) were taken off for brown-out reasons.

We ‘hit’ the drogue and when pressure was released from the

probe, the gas flew in the cab and my visibility was minimal, in

fact it was very blurry. You don’t need that when you are doing

air to air refueling.”

When I asked him about ops in Mali, he told the audience that

initial ops were in Bamako then headed to Timbucktu and then

into the mountains in the north of the country, where most of

the rebels were hiding out, fighting with government-backed

troops. He said that there had been over 200 medevac sorties

and around 24 bodies, mainly of Chad and Mali troops were

recovered by his unit.

Military personnel from four nations – Cdt Guillaume Vernet

(French Air Force), Lt Col Chris Chambers (Royal Canadian Air

Force), Cdr Reynir ‘Clint’ Brynjarsson (Iceland Coast Guard), Lt

Col Bruno Kuhberger (Austrian Air Force).

An overview of the SAR

Demonstration with delegates

looking on, from the Grand

Hotel’s 6th floor. A nice day

for it!

Carsten Sommer, Chief

Technical Officer of DDCATED

protective clothing based in

Denmark shows off their new

protective suit usually worn

under a flying suit.

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Military Repair

Search & Rescue

Military Repair

Maintenance & Overhaul

Civil ISR

Aerial Fire Fighting

Airborne Special Mission

Aviation FireSearch & Rescue

Military Repair

Civil ISR

Anti-Submarine Warfare

Airborne Special Mission

Aviation Fire

Rescue & Resilience

Electronic Warfare

Electronic Warfare

Anti-Submarine Warfare

Military Repair

Aerial Fire Fighting

Civil ISR

Civil ISR

Rescue & Resilience

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