UK training Afghan Helicopter pilots in the UK

[buglerbilly]

DATE:03/03/10

SOURCE:Flight InternationalUK showcases Mi-17 training work with Afghan crews

By Craig Hoyle

The UK Ministry of Defence has lifted the veil on a previously secretive helicopter training service being provided to future Afghan national security force pilots.

Details of the Project Curium activity were revealed at the MoD's Boscombe Down facility in Wiltshire on 3 March, along with information on a pair of Mil Mi-17 transports photographed in the circuit at the base and over the nearby Salisbury Plain Training Area since early last year.

Painted in the colours of the Qinetiq-managed Empire Test Pilots' School and carrying the registrations ZB697 and ZB698, the Russian-built aircraft were sourced from surplus Bulgarian air force stocks. Flightglobal's HeliCAS database says both were built in 1985.

The MoD confirms that "Afghan pilots and aircrew have been training with the UK Joint Helicopter Command with support from Qinetiq" using the transports. The students will serve as "the seed corn of an indigenous Afghan national security force helicopter capability", it adds.


© Berniec gallery @ Flightglobal.com/Airspace

Several crews have already completed their instruction in the UK and returned to Afghanistan, and the MoD says "initial reports suggest they are a well-respected, competent and motivated cadre of professionals. The students have made remarkable progress, mastering a complex task in a foreign language."

In total, 18 pilots and nine flight engineers will have received instruction under the programme, which will conclude on 31 March.

Work started in February 2008, with 60h of basic training performed using a Eurocopter Gazelle and 45h of Mi-17 flying conducted per pilot from May 2009.

The programme was supported by more than 25 Qinetiq staff and 12 personnel from the MoD's Special Duties Squadron.

Engineering support for the Mi-17s was provided by Lithuanian maintenance and repair company Helisota.

The Afghan national army air corps has an inventory of 28 Mi-8/17s, as listed in HeliCAS. This includes a batch of four new Mi-17s acquired for the service by the US Navy within a 65-day period last year.

[buglerbilly]

Afghans Train On Warsaw Pact Helos

Apr 9, 2010



By Angus Batey

Boscombe Down, England

Dealing with a shortage of tactical-lift helicopters is not always a matter of buying more new rotorcraft, which may be just as well, because most armed forces can’t afford that. Even with resurgent production of the Boeing CH-47F Chinook, there remains an urgent need for more lift, and in Europe and Israel this is being met by upgrades and increased use of the old-technology, robust Mil Mi-17, usually known by its NATO name Hip.

The U.K. Defense Ministry’s Project Curium, which ended on March 31, has brought long-term benefits to aircraft and personnel shortages in Afghanistan, and was run in a way that limited its impact on current U.K. helicopter operations.

Project Curium met a ministry requirement to train Afghan aircrews to fly and maintain the Mi-17. The type is considered perfect for Afghanistan’s hot and high conditions, and its low cost and regional ubiquity make it the aircraft of choice for the nascent Afghan National Army (ANA) helicopter force. (For an account of U.S. experience with Hips for Afghanistan, see DTI June 2009, p. 19.)

Curium was based in the U.K. because “you can deliver a much higher level of training in a benign environment,” says Wing Cmdr. Al Smith, chief of Joint Helicopter Command’s (JHC) Special Duties Squadron (SDS), which ran the training element of Curium.

To deliver Curium, the ministry had to acquire its own Mi-17s and add the aircraft to the U.K. military register. Qinetiq, the contractor that runs the ministry’s test and evaluation facility here, purchased two former Bulgarian air force helicopters and subcontracted the refurbishment to Helisota Ltd. of Kaunas, Lithuania.

The Mi-17s were based at Boscombe Down for several reasons: Flight-testing was required, Qinetiq’s expertise is available on site, the Salisbury Plain training area is nearby, and stationing Curium away from other British helicopter training minimized disruption to U.K. forces.

Before operating the Mi-17, Afghan trainees—18 pilots and nine flight engineers, making up nine aircrews—took an English language course. Elementary flying at RAF Cranwell was followed by ground school and flying in the Gazelle trainer at Boscombe Down.

The trainees, who had no flying experience before Curium, impressed SDS with their ability and commitment. “As students they’re great, because you don’t need to crack the whip—they just do it,” says Royal Navy Lt. Cmdr. Tim Haden, one of the pilot trainers.

Some Curium graduates are already flying in Afghanistan, and only one of the 27 failed to meet standards. He “has been retained in an aviation role in Afghanistan, so they’re still getting good value out of him,” says JHC Sqn. Ldr. Lee Marston.

Curium graduates are limited combat ready and ongoing training will be delivered in country under ANA auspices. ANA will determine their roles and responsibilities. The trainees, though, are clear about their objectives. “We want to bring peace to our country,” says Saeed (the Afghans’ identities are kept secret for security reasons). “We work hard here to become pilots, and then find terrorists.”

With Curium complete, the ministry Mi-17s will be gifted to the Afghan government. The helicopters have impressed their handlers, with widespread agreement that the Mi-17 would be an aircraft British pilots would be happy to use in combat. “Though I don’t know what British industry would think about that,” one of the Curium staff notes wryly.

Ten NATO countries have declared their intention to pool Hip helicopters through the Hip Helicopter Task Force (HHTF) created in February 2009 under the leadership of the Czech Republic. The idea is to support NATO members and Partnership for Peace nations without the resources to conduct transport helicopter operations on their own, notably in Afghanistan. The HHTF provides operational pre-deployment training, command and control capabilities, base support and financial aid. Half the HHTF members operate different Hip versions—Mi-8, Mi-17 and Mi-171 models—but lack the deployment and operational support to send them to Afghanistan.

The Czech Republic has committed three Mi-171s to the HHTF and Hungary is providing two Mi-17s. In December 2009, the Czech Republic deployed its Hips to Afghanistan and provided the majority of the funding, supplemented by more than €1 million ($1.37 million) provided through the Franco-British Multinational Helicopter Initiative (MHI). Hungary is expected to follow with its two Mi-17s in 2011. Croatia is considering contributing one helicopter to the HHTF and Partnership for Peace member Macedonia two after 2013.

The European Defense Agency (EDA), which has observer status in the HHTF, is focusing its short-term efforts on training, says Alexander Weis, the agency’s chief executive. At the end of 2009, EU defense ministers launched the European Helicopter Training Program (HTP) to boost the number of helicopters available for crisis management. Starting this year, the program will consist of two live exercises a year, one focusing on individual training and one on interoperability and tactics.

Spain is hosting the first of these exercises, Azor 2010, in June to practice operating helicopters in desert climates. The exercise will have a main operating base at Agoncillo, with forward operating bases at San Gregorio and Santa Cilia. Eight EU and NATO nations will participate with 40 helicopters and three more plan to send observers.

The HTP also includes an annual symposium to share lessons learned from operations and to identify best practices. Luxembourg plans to host the first such symposium in September.

Germany and Israel are modernizing their Sikorsky CH-53s—first-generation twin-engine versions, rather than the costly-to-operate three-engine CH-53E used by the U.S. Marine Corps. In 2009, the EDA took over the Future Transport Helicopter (FTH) program dating from 2007 to replace the CH-53 and CH-47, with Sikorsky’s CH-53K and a new, bigger tandem-rotor helicopter from Boeing as leading candidates, to be developed in collaboration with European industry. Delivery of the first FTH is supposed to take place around 2020, but that date is almost certain to slip, leaving the upgraded CH-53G to fill the gap.

Under a February 2007 contract from German defense procurement agency BWB, Eurocopter is upgrading 40 CH-53Gs with digital avionics, improved navigation equipment and a new automatic flight-control system including hover hold. The helicopters gain additional internal fuel tanks, extending their range to 1,200 km. (745 mi.), forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems, satellite communication systems, electronic warfare systems and night-vision capabilities. After the upgrade, the redesignated CH-53GA (German Advanced) will be able to operate with the German army’s Tiger combat helicopters and new NH90s.

The upgrade also includes reinforcing the CH-53’s fuselage to increase its design life to 10,000 hr. from 6,000. The upgrades are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013, which would extend their service life to 2030.

Under a separate contract the BWB awarded to Eurocopter last June, 26 CH-53GS/GEs are being upgraded for personnel recovery missions with a tactical workstation that can be rapidly installed in (and removed from) the cargo bay to control a personnel locator system, broadband radio unit, FLIR system and connections to the internal and satellite communication systems. Deliveries of the upgraded helicopters are to be completed by 2011.

The Israeli CH-53, modernized into the Yasur 2000, is getting a new suite of improvements under the Yasur 2025 program. With this, the air force hopes to extend the operational lifespan by two decades. The Yasur 2025 upgrade includes self-defense systems, electronic countermeasures, network communications and flight-safety improvements.

A unique feature is Elbit’s Sword (Surveillance and Warning Obstacle Ranging and Display). It is laser radar (or lidar), which scans the ground ahead of the helicopter with sub-centimeter resolution, warning of obstructions at night and in bad weather.

Compared with earlier lidars, Sword takes advantage of two key technologies: the ability to record and replay imagery in a small system, and an efficient fiber laser that reduces the system’s size and weight. It is integrated with the helicopter’s inertial navigation system so it automatically looks into turns. The “see and remember” recording system permits Sword to deal with brownout. Lidar can’t see through heavy obscurants, but the system can image the landing zone before brownout starts, warning the pilot of obstacles.

The Israel Air Force (IAF) is aiming to substantially upgrade its attack helicopter fleet. The service is flight-testing a new version of the Black Hawk utility helicopter equipped with air-to-surface missile launchers.

Called Yanshuf (Owl), the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk has been in Israeli service since August 1994. It is unclear how many of the fleet will be armed, and many details are classified. Aviation experts say the arming is performed jointly by the IAF, Sikorsky and local contractors, and the helicopter has successfully test-fired an air-to-surface missile. It is also equipped with a belly-mounted cannon.

With Nicholas Fiorenza in Brussels, David Eshel in Tel Aviv and Bill Sweetman in Washington.

Photo: UK MoD