'Wildcat' Helo Completes 20 Days Of Sea Trials Aboard The
Frigate
The Royal Navy's next generation helicopter "Wildcat" has
completed 20 days of demanding trials aboard HMS Iron Duke, laying
the groundwork for future operations. Wildcat landed nearly 400
times on the frigate's flight deck by day and night in various
weather conditions as the ship sailed off the coasts of southern
England and northern Scotland.
The Portsmouth-based frigate sought the most challenging weather
conditions around the UK as she took the Wildcat - successor to the
long-serving Lynx - to sea to help write the rulebook for the new
helicopter. From 2015, Wildcat will be the principal helicopter
used by Royal Navy frigates, including Iron Duke and her Type 23
sisters, and destroyers on operations around the globe.
Although Wildcat looks like the final variant of the Lynx Mk8,
currently in service with the Fleet Air Arm, it is classed as a new
aircraft - it handles differently for a start, not least thanks to
new engines and the distinctive tail boom which marks Wildcat out
from its forebears. As a result, a new rulebook has to be written
to define what are known as 'ship-helicopter operating limits' -
the guidelines for safe Wildcat operations by day and night in
various weather conditions and with different payloads.
For that, Wildcat needed to go to sea. It enjoyed two ten-day
periods of trials aboard Iron Duke, one in mid-January, the second
at the beginning of this month, ranging from the waters off the
South Coast to the Western Approaches, Irish Sea and northern
shores of Scotland as the frigate searched for suitable weather
conditions to lay down the limits for safe Wildcat operations. In
all, Wildcat touched down on Iron Duke's flight deck 390 times,
including 148 night landings - 76 of them using night-vision
goggles.
From Iron Duke's viewpoint, the new helicopter certainly impressed.
"Wildcat is a very capable aircraft, a completely valued successor
to the Lynx, and once fully mature will provide significantly
enhanced capability to the maritime domain." said Commander Nick
Cooke-Priest, the frigate's Commanding Officer.
Prototype ZZ402 paid a brief visit to Iron Duke just before
Christmas, when pilots and technicians tested some of the basics
such as whether the flight deck recovery system could pull Wildcat
into the hangar, did Wildcat fit in the hangar, can it be easily
refuelled and rearmed and 'talk' to the frigate's command systems,
all of which were in the affirmative. The prototype's two Fleet Air
Arm test pilots assessed and scored the difficulty and workload
required for each landing in each different weather condition or
sea state, while a myriad of sensors recorded more than 4,000
different items of data from the helicopter's engines, rotor and
transmission. These included video feeds from all the crew
positions, stresses and strains from all over the airframe and
rotor blades, engine and gearbox parameters and undercarriage
loadings.
The crew scores and reams of data are now being analysed by experts
(it'll take them until towards the end of the year) to set the
limits for day and night operations by Wildcat at sea in various
conditions and with various payloads. In addition to the test
pilots, two flight test engineers, aircraft and stress engineers,
instrumentation experts and ship's flight personnel (to carry out
maintenance on the prototype and move it in and out of the
frigate's hangar) - a good 30 extra souls in all - squeezed aboard
the Type 23, which was fitted with accurate ship motion and wind
sensors for the tests.
The trials team used the opportunity of operating Wildcat at sea
for the first time to test its mission systems, night-vision
cockpit and navigation systems, paving the way for the helicopter's
front line duties in three years' time.
While Wildcats work their way along the production line at
AgustaWestland's Yeovil factory, ZZ402 will continue her trials,
including tests of radar, electro-optics and navigational kit, and
conducting missile firings. The first of 28 naval variants of
Wildcat is due to be delivered to its future home of Royal Naval
Air Station Yeovilton ten days before Christmas for trials with
700W Naval Air Squadron. (Photos provided by Royal Navy)