INDEX
   
4 Editor's Comment
... ..................................................
8 Caparo’ s Composite Capabilities
... ..................................................
11 Autosport Review 2008
... ..................................................
12 TATA Advanced Systems and EADS Defence and Security
... ..................................................
14 Plugging the gap…overcoming the skills shortages
... ..................................................
16 Lola's Tri-Service Technology
... ..................................................
17 Specialist Utility Vehicle (SUV) Weapons at DVD
... ..................................................
18 Merlin Helicopter magic
... ..................................................
20 Wire in composite
... ..................................................
22 A Brief History of Contemporary Warfare
... ..................................................
24 Testing Technology
... ..................................................
26 Protector Cases - equipment protection
... ..................................................
28 Sweden’s Stealth Ship
... ..................................................
30 DVD 2008 at Millbrooks, June 25th and 26th
... ..................................................
33 Saving Lives in Afghanistan
... ..................................................
34 Earth's largest Tri-Service Expo Reviewed
... ..................................................
38 DefenceIntegration.org Media Pack
... ..................................................
40 Military/Aerospace solutions conference
   
 
 
 

Bringing all this technical capability together presented some obvious challenges to the programme and delays prior to Lockheed Martin UK taking over the contract pushed back the in-service date to 1999.

“When we were awarded this programme in 1991 we made our customer a series of promises,” said Ron Christenson of Lockheed Martin UK. We promised we would develop the best ASW platform in the world. We promised we would create a new sovereign capability and skill set and we promised we would deliver to schedule and to budget. The fleet has now declared Full Operational Capability and I'm proud to say that we have kept all our promises. However what is increasingly clear is that we have only scratched the surface of this machine's true potential.”

The Merlins of the RN's 814 Squadron are presently deploying aboard HMS Illustrious “east of Suez”, the first time that six have operated from a carrier. This underlines the current demand for their multi-mission capabilities and through providing surface and sub-surface surveillance, support in the littoral environment and much-needed tactical lift support to troops on operations they will demonstrate some of their potential outside the ASW arena.

Where an original schedule was inhibited in the 1980s in part by difficulties in adopting developing capabilities, the future growth of the Merlin Mk1 is encapsulated by one programme Merlin Capability and Sustainment Programme (MCSP) - and two words open architecture.

Through the £750m MCSP contract Lockheed Martin UK is charged with bringing 30 Merlin Mk1s with an option for an additional eight right up to the cutting edge of capability, creating the right environment for users to explore their full potential. Future opportunities are catered for through an open architecture approach which allows for rapid technology insertion, minimising obsolescence issues and so smoothing both the financial and technical future of the aircraft.

“Central to our work on the first Merlin contract was our pledge to create a new set of UK skills,” said Ron Christenson. “We didn't just fly in our best engineers, have them do the work, then fly them out again. We brought our very top people to the UK and used them to create an indigenous and sovereign skill set which today is recognised in the Defence Industrial Strategy as
  

  

critical to UK national security. Now there are more than 1,400 people working on MCSP across the country, with the skills, vision and talent to develop the leading edge technology the programme demands as it creates a new designation of Merlin the Mk2.

The investment in MCSP will deliver an overall cost saving of more than £500 million through the avoidance of obsolescence and is also forecast to lead to savings in future support costs in excess of £75 million. The first of the upgraded systems is expected to enter service in 2013.

As well as implementing open systems architecture the programme will include improvements to the mission system processing capability, the installation of large area flat panel displays, and new capabilities in the Blue Kestrel Radar and Sonar system. Pilots and crew will benefit from a powerful and easy to use Human Machine Interface that will let them take full advantage of the improved platform and mission system capabilities.

Speaking when the contract was awarded, Commodore Simon Baldwin who was then the MoD's Merlin Integrated Project Team leader said: “The Merlin Mk1 helicopter continues to be a critical multi-mission capability for the Royal Navy and the mainstay of our deployed anti-submarine warfare force. This new programme will allow us to explore even further the considerable potential of this impressive Weapon
  

  

System, particularly the enhanced capabilities within the littoral environment.”

Merlin Mk 1 has come of age. MCSP is heralding a new era for the helicopter and for its users with the Mk2. Now it is down to Lockheed Martin UK to rise to the challenge and take this world-class helicopter to the next stage of its evolution.
 
 
 
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