News of Canadian helos from the Brits

Further to my previous post, in which I mentioned I'd noted a few things that merited further digging...

The excellent British milblog Defence of the Realm recently put up an interesting post about helo support in Afghanistan. It was relevant to this blog because of this particular passage:

It was Sir Nicholas Winterton's turn at defence questions today (link to follow) when he took up the theme of helicopter availability in Afghanistan.

After his anodyne opener (as is the tradition) with a stock answer from secretary of state Des Browne, he got to the meat, asking whether the MoD had "indicated to any of our armed services its willingness to procure light helicopters on their behalf? If so, what response has it had?"

The question was, shall we say, not ill-informed, the rumour machine suggesting that the military had been offered light assault helicopters – and indeed leased Mi-17s – but had turned them down.

Perhaps conscious of this, Browne volunteered an unexpectedly full answer, telling us:

For completeness, the House should know that to support operations in Afghanistan, the Canadians — I spoke to their Defence Minister recently — have bought six additional Chinooks and eight Griffin helicopters. In the interim, while fitting out those Chinooks for deployment, they are leasing eight Mi-17s. Therefore, the number of frames, and consequently the hours available, will be subject to a significant uplift in Afghanistan.

That's a lot of information in just a few sentences. I thought it worth looking into. Unfortunately, from what I can gather, it's not quite as clear-cut as Des Browne makes it out to be.

Let's deal with the out-and-out error: the CF is not buying more Griffons, just upgrading some of the ones we already fly. It is, however, considering sending them to Afghanistan, but that's not final by any stretch of the imagination. I spoke with various people who had conflicting takes on which way the decision-makers are leaning on that one - some said no way in hell are they going, and others advised me not to stick my neck out too far on that opinion. The official line seems to be that INGRESS is intended to make the Griffons more capable for a whole spectrum of operations, especially domestic ones (Olympics, anyone?). Contrary to what we've all been guessing about, it's not specifically for Afghanistan.

We'll see about that. I'd say it's even odds that we'll be seeing Griffons doing CCS (Close Combat Support) or escort duties on heavier choppers by February 2009. Flip a coin on which way it's going to go.

Speaking of heavies, that brings me to Browne's next point: the Chinooks. We are buying eight 47-D's from the U.S., ones that are already flying in Afghanistan. Paint a new flag on the tails, put a new bum in the pilot's seat, and off we go. I asked what we were going to do with those particular whirlybirds once the 47-F's come through, and was told no decision has been made about that. This isn't really news. Well, other than the fact that we're getting close to IOC on these - they should be flying for us come the fall.

It was the supposed lease of "eight Mi-17's" that really got my antennae twitching, though. I thought maybe Browne was referring to the Polish rotary wing help we were offered. Not so, I was told. It turns out that while the Polish help is most welcome, it's more of a symbolic gesture than anything - extra hours on frames that aren't even based at KAF. As I said, welcome, but not super-useful.

So I asked if we're leasing Mi-17's at all. I was told we're not...but that Browne might have simply erred on the designation. There's scuttlebut that we might be leasing Mi-8's. Eight of them, and just for hauling cargo until they can get certified to transport personnel, or so the rumour goes. Starting quite soon, if not already over there on the QT. Why this isn't being announced is beyond me, unless it's not true and I'm simply hearing wishful thinking.

It will be fascinating to see what comes of this helicopter intrigue. I hope it's all true - Griffons, Chinooks, and contracted heavy-lift all working together to support the Afghan operation. The boots on the ground need all the help from above they can get.

Of course, it's frustrating that it took prompting from a UK source to find out about it all.

Update: From private correspondence, a friend has been told that...

...travel orders and other docs have already been signed, sealed and delivered for deployment [date redacted]. Sounds a lot more definite than Fort Confusion seems to think. Perhaps the left hand is sneaking ahead on the right...

My bet is that they’ll go, mainly because the AF has been screaming to get something into K’har other than cargo carriers and the BG’s need the helos desperately. It’s a national disgrace that we haven’t been able to get Chinooks or something out there by now.

Wait, out.