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Wildcat, the Royal Navy's next-generation helicopter, begins sea trials with Iron Duke
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Naval Forces News - UK
Wildcat,
the Royal Navy's next-generation helicopter, begins sea trials with Iron
Duke
The
successor to the trusty Lynx, which has served the Navy and the Army
admirably since the 1970s, will spend the next month flying on and off
HMS Iron Duke in the English Channel as part of its most extensive trials
yet.
Wildcat is the next generation of light multi-role helicopter to serve
both the Army and the Navy in the future. The Navy variant of the Wildcat
will be the mainstay of helicopter operations from Royal Navy destroyers
and frigates, with 28 ordered for the Fleet Air Arm.
Although the aircraft looks similar to its predecessor - with
the exception of its distinctive tailplane which improves the helicopter's
stability - Wildcat's characteristics are sufficiently different from
Lynx to warrant extensive flight trials, setting the parameters within
which it can safely operate.
Wildcat has gone to sea before, landing on the back of aviation training
ship RFA Argus off the south coast of England back in November 2011.
A Wildcat
helicopter takes off from the flight deck of HMS Iron Duke
(picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2012)
And the prototype ZZ402
paid a brief visit to HMS Iron Duke just before Christmas, when pilots
and technicians tested some of the basics.
Those trials were carried out with the ship stationary in Portsmouth Naval
Base. For the 'Ship Helicopter Operating Limits' trials currently underway,
Iron Duke and Wildcat have put to sea.
A team of more than 30 experts has joined the Type 23 frigate for the
evaluation; the ship has also been fitted with specialist instruments
to record every aspect of the trials.
Initially the trials will take place in Lyme Bay, before Iron Duke sails
increasingly westwards, not least searching for rough weather to help
define the helicopter's operating limits 'over the full envelope of operations'
(i.e. payloads and weights carried by Wildcat in all manner of climatic
conditions).
The trials should take until around early February 2012 after which around
nine months is required to analyse and evaluate all the information gathered.
From: mod.uk