Helicopters
The helicopter has become a key enabler in the modern crisis management operations, especially when countering an asymmetric effect.
Despite having significant numbers of helicopters within the European inventory, successive operations have been short of vital helicopter support. Many of the more than 1700 helicopters in the military inventories in Europe are not available for crisis management operations for two reasons: firstly, some crews are not trained to fly in more demanding environments (for example over deserts or in mountainous terrain); secondly, some helicopters are technically not equipped for these environments. EDA is mainly addressing the training element.
AZOR 2010 In consultation with our pMS, several key strands were thought to contribute to this non-employability: a lack of training for the crews, a lack of technical equipment for the aircraft, and the difficulties of logistic support to deployed operations.
Initial training capacity has already been delivered in 2009 to Czech pilots, deployed to Afghanistan before the end of the year. In 2010 a Helicopter Training Programme was launched. This Programme will train helicopter crews at the European level in a structured manner to fly in challenging environments.
There is also a long-term track. France and Germany have brought their bilateral initiative for a Future Transport Helicopter (2020+) to EDA, thus opening up the project to other interested Member States. Tasked by the Head of the Agency, the Agency has also started to explore the scope for transatlantic cooperation, as the market for this type of expensive helicopter is too small in Europe.
© 2005-2012 European Defence Agency Information on this site is subject to
.