AW159 Wildcat Helicopter (RN & AAC)

[bobp]

Wildcat shows its teeth......
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... rike-group

[Ron5]

Does the Wildcat have flotation gear? Adding a folding rotor, powered or manual would also help when flying the platform out of area in a C-17 or Atlas. If the AW149 is in line to be operated by the SF and the SFSG then having it marinized, or at least some of them, makes sense. I wonder if an AW149 could carry four Sea Venom?

Yes
Yes, would probably also need a folding tail
Yes, and apparently not much would need regarding salt water corrosion resistance. J Tatersall in a comment above listed most of the other needs. Not technically difficult but does eat into payload and would take time & money to develop and test.
Yes, well within load limits. Brimstone has also been shown attached previously ...

[SKB]

[Lord Jim]

Does the Wildcat have flotation gear? Adding a folding rotor, powered or manual would also help when flying the platform out of area in a C-17 or Atlas. If the AW149 is in line to be operated by the SF and the SFSG then having it marinized, or at least some of them, makes sense. I wonder if an AW149 could carry four Sea Venom?

Yes
Yes, would probably also need a folding tail
Yes, and apparently not much would need regarding salt water corrosion resistance. J Tatersall in a comment above listed most of the other needs. Not technically difficult but does eat into payload and would take time & money to develop and test.
Yes, well within load limits. Brimstone has also been shown attached previously ...

Being able to use Brimstone or the same weapon as is being purchased for the Apache Guardians would be very useful covering both land and sea targets if needed. Yes it would eat into payload but I am sure there will be times where that will both be acceptable and necessary.

[Jensy]

Yes, would probably also need a folding tail
Yes, and apparently not much would need regarding salt water corrosion resistance. J Tatersall in a comment above listed most of the other needs. Not technically difficult but does eat into payload and would take time & money to develop and test.
Yes, well within load limits. Brimstone has also been shown attached previously ...

Apologies, I'm a bit late to the party! However was having similar thoughts earlier about eventually replacing the Wildcat fleet with NMH,

I think AW149 could, like Wildcat, get away with lacking a folding tail. Thanks to the RN having Merlin sized hangars.

Folded Merlin is 15.75m long, with another metre roughly for access to the radar.

AW149 should be roughly equivalent, or shorter than that, if fitted with a folding main rotor. I presume Leonardo have adequate experience integrating such onto an otherwise mature platform.



Speculation: Quite a chunky bird around the waist, the AW149, but you might just squeeze two of them into a hangar that could take two Wildcats (3.05m wide without the weapons wing).

At present, the largest AW149 user is the Egyptian Navy, though I'm unsure if they asked Leonardo for any specific further marinisation. Also not sure if they're shore based or on their Mistral-ski class...

[Lord Jim]

I am of the opinion the whatever is selected for the NMH, should be allocated to the AAC. They would then be able to form two Regiments, which would also provide the detachments in Brunei and Cyprus and one Squadron could be dedicated to support of SF. The remainder would be available if not permanently part of 16 AA. The AAC Wildcats should be retained as well as they are starting to prove themselves as very good scouts for the Apaches, and possible future upgrades should make them even more so.

[Timmymagic]

Apologies, I'm a bit late to the party! However was having similar thoughts earlier about eventually replacing the Wildcat fleet with NMH,

To be honest we should never have built Wildcat in the first place. AW139 was available years before, and AW149 at the same time, and addressed all of Lynx's shortcomings (limited cabin and lifting capacity). A powered blade fold would be comparatively straightforward for AW and even a limited tail fold of just the empennage would have been really beneficial, not just for shipboard use, but air transport.

[SW1]

Main Blade folding I can see for boats but can’t see why you would want to add the complexity or weight to fold the tail on the aw series.

They usually take the blades off anyway for air transport.

[mrclark303]

Apologies, I'm a bit late to the party! However was having similar thoughts earlier about eventually replacing the Wildcat fleet with NMH,

To be honest we should never have built Wildcat in the first place. AW139 was available years before, and AW149 at the same time, and addressed all of Lynx's shortcomings (limited cabin and lifting capacity). A powered blade fold would be comparatively straightforward for AW and even a limited tail fold of just the empennage would have been really beneficial, not just for shipboard use, but air transport.

To be honest, I would agree, Wildcat was a hugely expensive helicopter to develop, an excellent small Naval machine, but forced on the Army, who still scratch their heads looking for something for it to do...

I don't buy the scouting role as it has no dedicated scouting sensors apart from a flir, no mast sight, no significant elint equipment or locating electronics.

If by scouting you mean buzz about the front line and get shot down, then I suppose it's a scout helicopter....

The only way it will survive in a modern war is flying flat out at tree top level, where it won't see a bloody thing!

An utter vanity project, hugely expensive, purely built to keep Wastelands open, with only a handful of exports...

We should have just bought SH60R's for the RN and Blackhawk for the RAF and Army.

[Clive F]

If "Tarzan" hadn't stirred it up we would have been making blackhawks at Yeovilton so we could replace like with like.

[Little J]

I thought he was involved in the '101? Was he still around for Wildcat???

[Clive F]

Sorry, my bad, I think you are correct. But had we just had Blackhawks instead of 101 & Lynx (and now puma), would that have been a better option?

[Jensy]

Great news for Yeovil, though AW159 is not exactly selling like its predecessor.