The RAF in Cyprus has received two Airbus H145 Jupiter HC Mk2 helicopters for 84 Squadron.
The aircraft were delivered as part of a £148 million MOD programme which, according to the department, went from contract to operational capability in two years. The helicopters will take on tasks including emergency response, aerial firefighting, troop transport, medical evacuation, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, fulfilling requirements previously met by the retired Puma HC2 and, before that, the Griffin.
The delivery forms part of a six-helicopter contract placed by the MOD, which the department says supports 250 UK jobs at Airbus in Oxford. A further two aircraft are being operated in Brunei by the Army Air Corps’ 667 Squadron. A support contract with Airbus directly supports around 30 further skilled UK jobs, ten of which will be deployed to Cyprus and eight to Brunei, with the remaining 12 based at Airbus in Oxford.
Mark Langrill, Director Rotary Wing and Uncrewed Air Systems at the National Armaments Director Group, was quoted in the press release as saying: “Two years from contract signature to aircraft on the ground in Cyprus is a proud achievement for all involved. The H145 programme clearly demonstrates our ability to safely deliver a modern and reliable capability at pace whilst providing value for money and meeting the needs of our Armed Forces. This can only be achieved by the collaborative efforts of everyone across the MOD and support from industry.”
Group Captain J Brooks, Senior Responsible Owner for the programme, was quoted in the press release as saying: “Seeing the Jupiter HC Mk2 in Cyprus marks a significant milestone for Defence. The H145 platform delivers a modern, versatile capability that strengthens support to British Forces Cyprus, while contributing to the wider modernisation and rationalisation of our rotary-wing fleet.”
According to the MOD, the Jupiter HC Mk2 advances the UK’s Defence Rotary Wing Strategy, which aims to rationalise helicopter types across the fleet to reduce complexity, improve interoperability and drive down whole-life costs.
Richard Atack, Managing Director of Airbus Helicopters in the UK, was quoted in the press release as saying: “With the addition of this six aircraft contract, the UK MOD will have a total fleet of 13 H145 across training and operational roles, demonstrating the growing trust in Airbus Helicopters’ ability to deliver best-in-class aircraft on time and cost.”
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Ok, but we had a set of brand new H135s that could have been used, but instead were sold off (to Australia I think) So really wasteful and inefficient once again by the MOD
Given the Jupiter can’t carry a useful underslung load (272kg max) and most of what 84 Sqn are doing involves flying around with large quantities of water, I think the MOD have made the right call. It’s almost like they know what they’re doing.
Perhaps, or they could have bought these earlier, or they could have added this to the AW149 order and placed that earlier.
Selling a set of brand new helicopter that dont have a use does not seem to me to be an organisation that knows what it is doing, expecially when there is a shortage of this asset type
AW149 is massively overkill for Cyprus. There’s a reason 84 Sqn were using Griffin when the rest of the air force was using Puma/Merlin/Chinook.
Juno is a type we already have in service, it’s fairly cheap to operate, and it does everything we need it to for the mission in Cyprus.
We didn’t sell the Jupiters, the Aussies are leasing them from us. And there’s no shortage of them, they’re not capable of fulfilling the role of the Griffin in Cyprus or Brunei. Hence why we bought more Junos to do those jobs.
Again, it’s almost like the MOD is full of professionals who have the necessary info to make decisions.
So funny…..mucker.
Not sure about this particular airframe for Cyprus use. The RAF would be better off with a standard fleet of Helicopters rather than a mish mash of types.
They tried that with the NMH, didn’t exactly go to plan did it?
As Mark says.
Also, when the wider military had a much bigger helicopter fleet small niche numbers of Bell and Griffin filled these roles, just as the H145s will do now.
I might be wrong, but assume that the non deployable roles of the helicopters deployed to Akrotiri and Brunei made using something like NMH, Chinook, Puma overkill, saving those for their primary battlefield tasks.