At the same time, Whitehall also announced a major shake-up of all its helicopter assets which will see some substantial changes for the Fleet Air Arm:
- All variants of the venerable Sea King – celebrating its 40th birthday this year – will be out of service two years earlier than planned in 2016.
-The ‘jungly’ Sea King role, carried out by the Yeovilton-based Commando Helicopter Force, will be performed instead by Merlin Mk3s, transferred from the RAF to the Fleet Air Arm (the RAF crews will re-train to fly Chinooks).
-The Airborne Surveillance and Control mission, performed by aplomb by Culdrose-based ‘Bagger’ Sea Kings currently deployed in Afghanistan, will be carried out by modified Merlin Mk1s.
-The Search and Rescue mission, carried out at HMS Gannet and by 771 NAS in Culdrose, will be carried out by a new helicopter under a PFI initiative between the MOD and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency which is looking to overhaul the country’s SAR organisation.
No decision has yet been taken on the future home of the CHF Merlin force, but all 62 Wildcats – and Whitehall is looking at buying eight more to replace the battlefield Lynx, due out of service in 2018 – will be based at RNAS Yeovilton.]