Tim Ripley/LONDON
The UK Ministry of Defence is set to announce the formation of a new Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) by the end of January. It will be responsible for control of the peacetime operations of British Army Air Corps, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy battlefield helicopters. The JHC will assume operational control of the services' helicopters on 1 October and will take over budgetary control of the force in April 2000.
The new headquarters is being set up within the Army's Land Command headquarters at Wilton, Wiltshire, but military sources stress that the new structure will be a multiservice one, with RAF Air Vice Marshal David Niven as its first commander.
The joint command concept is the result of July's UK Strategic Defence Review and is intended to improve efficiency and operational flexibility. Under the arrangement, all RN Westland Sea King HC.4s, Gazelles and Lynx commando helicopters, Air Corps Gazelles, Lynx and Boeing Apaches and RAF Boeing Chinook, Eurocopter Puma and EH Industries Merlin support aircraft will report to the new headquarters.
RN anti-submarine and search and rescue (SAR) helicopters and RAF SAR helicopters will remain under the control of their respective service chains of command. Northern Ireland and other operational theatres will have their own arrangements.
It is uncertain how the new command will fit into budgetary, doctrine and procurement chains, particularly with relation to the forthcoming RN Sea King HC.4 and RAF Puma replacement decisions. "It is not clear whether the command will be the joint focus for procurement advice on helicopters," says one source close to the Joint Helicopter Study Team.
One unresolved issue is the harmonisation of different flying regulations on crew duty hours between the three services.
Source: Flight International
