AW159 Wildcat Helicopter (RN & AAC)

[mrclark303]

Shame, was hoping it was a larger order

I'm afraid not, the lingering death of Wildcat keeps grinding excruciatingly onwards....

You sound disapointed. It is if you think it is a shame that another country did not see the light (in your view) of buying expensive US alternative imports.....

I for one am glad that British based employees get to work even if it is just another 24 helicopters, and thereby keep their skills fresh and up to date. We have underinvested in our UK based Defence industry in general for years, allowing too many companies to be purchased by foriegn competitors, and often for the British factories being closed and the work shifted to overseas, cheaper workforce.

The combination of Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown the importance of having local, secure, resilient supply chains, and not relying on cheaper overseas production, over which we have no control. So for me every bit of British based Defence production is a small step in the right direction.

Nope, not my point at all, simply put, Wildcat was ill devised, designed, developed and procured at huge expense, with almost zero chance of foreign exports.

The RN would have been perfectly happy with new updated Lynx.

the Army couldn't have new Lynx because it lacks the crash worthy seats and installing them in Wildcat rendered it capable of carrying less people than my old 110 Defender!

It carries no scouting specific avionics, no pylon mounted weapons, It's quite frankly about as useful to the Army as Chocolate teapot....

It stands as a glowing example of absolutely piss poor UK procument policy and a good example of how we spend 50 odd billion a year, yet have sod all to show for it...

I don't have an issue with UK based procument, I do have a 'massive' issue with purely politically driven vanity projects that utterly waste tax payers money, as we all should....

[wargame_insomniac]

Shame, was hoping it was a larger order

I'm afraid not, the lingering death of Wildcat keeps grinding excruciatingly onwards....

You sound disapointed. It is if you think it is a shame that another country did not see the light (in your view) of buying expensive US alternative imports.....

I for one am glad that British based employees get to work even if it is just another 24 helicopters, and thereby keep their skills fresh and up to date. We have underinvested in our UK based Defence industry in general for years, allowing too many companies to be purchased by foriegn competitors, and often for the British factories being closed and the work shifted to overseas, cheaper workforce.

The combination of Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown the importance of having local, secure, resilient supply chains, and not relying on cheaper overseas production, over which we have no control. So for me every bit of British based Defence production is a small step in the right direction.

Nope, not my point at all, simply put, Wildcat was ill devised, designed, developed and procured at huge expense, with almost zero chance of foreign exports.

The RN would have been perfectly happy with new updated Lynx.

the Army couldn't have new Lynx because it lacks the crash worthy seats and installing them in Wildcat rendered it capable of carrying less people than my old 110 Defender!

It carries no scouting specific avionics, no pylon mounted weapons, It's quite frankly about as useful to the Army as Chocolate teapot....

It stands as a glowing example of absolutely piss poor UK procument policy and a good example of how we spend 50 odd billion a year, yet have sod all to show for it...

I don't have an issue with UK based procument, I do have a 'massive' issue with purely politically driven vanity projects that utterly waste tax payers money, as we all should....

Then why on earth are you so bitter about AMOTHER country buying 24 nw Wildcats!!

[mrclark303]

Shame, was hoping it was a larger order

I'm afraid not, the lingering death of Wildcat keeps grinding excruciatingly onwards....

You sound disapointed. It is if you think it is a shame that another country did not see the light (in your view) of buying expensive US alternative imports.....

I for one am glad that British based employees get to work even if it is just another 24 helicopters, and thereby keep their skills fresh and up to date. We have underinvested in our UK based Defence industry in general for years, allowing too many companies to be purchased by foriegn competitors, and often for the British factories being closed and the work shifted to overseas, cheaper workforce.

The combination of Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown the importance of having local, secure, resilient supply chains, and not relying on cheaper overseas production, over which we have no control. So for me every bit of British based Defence production is a small step in the right direction.

Nope, not my point at all, simply put, Wildcat was ill devised, designed, developed and procured at huge expense, with almost zero chance of foreign exports.

The RN would have been perfectly happy with new updated Lynx.

the Army couldn't have new Lynx because it lacks the crash worthy seats and installing them in Wildcat rendered it capable of carrying less people than my old 110 Defender!

It carries no scouting specific avionics, no pylon mounted weapons, It's quite frankly about as useful to the Army as Chocolate teapot....

It stands as a glowing example of absolutely piss poor UK procument policy and a good example of how we spend 50 odd billion a year, yet have sod all to show for it...

I don't have an issue with UK based procument, I do have a 'massive' issue with purely politically driven vanity projects that utterly waste tax payers money, as we all should....

Then why on earth are you so bitter about AMOTHER country buying 24 nw Wildcats!!

So, who is buying 24??

I can't find any reference for that? Even if it was true, it would push total orders to a rather pathetic 104.

[Little J]

Not sure where 24 came from, but this is from the Leonardo thread...

If these are successfully concluded, the volumes under discussion would lead to a “double-digit backlog” for the Wildcat, said Clarke, speaking at an event in Yeovil on 22 August

A Wildcat sized Naval asset was never going to set the sales world on fire... But then, NH90 was the right size, sold shed loads and look how that turned out.

(I think I have a good idea what comes next)

[Phil Sayers]

It carries no scouting specific avionics, no pylon mounted weapons, It's quite frankly about as useful to the Army as Chocolate teapot....

It is somewhat puzzling that the AAC does not seem to see any benefit in acquiring the RN's pylons and Martlet. Obviously, money is tight but it would presumably be a fairly cheap acquisition. Maybe they are concerned that doing that could be cited to reduce the Apache buy?

[new guy]

It carries no scouting specific avionics, no pylon mounted weapons, It's quite frankly about as useful to the Army as Chocolate teapot....

It is somewhat puzzling that the AAC does not seem to see any benefit in acquiring the RN's pylons and Martlet. Obviously, money is tight but it would presumably be a fairly cheap acquisition. Maybe they are concerned that doing that could be cited to reduce the Apache buy?

apache has been bought...
Just saying, no excuses.


Being reasonable however, it would make sense for it to not be at the top of their list.

[Poiuytrewq]

Another example of the importance of concentrating on the basis first. The scale of the waste must be breathtaking.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/0 ... -wildcats/

https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/defence- ... anagement/

[SKB]

(Forces News) 3rd October 2023

Wildcat is the latest generation of multi-role helicopters specifically procured to operate from the frigates and destroyers of the Royal Navy.

Forces News was given a tour of the helicopter embarked on Type 23 frigate HMS Iron Duke.