LONDON—The UK Royal Navy has taken delivery of its last of 25 Leonardo AW101 Merlin Mk. 4/4A amphibious assault helicopters.
Leonardo Helicopters UK upgraded the three-engine rotorcraft under the British Defense Ministry’s £760 million ($928 million) Merlin Life Sustainment Program, which was contracted in 2014 to extend the life of the helicopters out to 2030 and potentially 2040.
The program took the Royal Air Force’s land-based Merlin Mk. 3/3A helicopters and converted them for ship-based operations, kitting the helicopters out with a folding main rotor head and tail.
The Mk. 3A aircraft were a batch of six Merlins purchased from Denmark to bolster the UK Merlin fleet during operations in Afghanistan. The changes to the aircraft allow them to be operated from the UK’s new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.
The helicopters replaced the so-called Jungly Westland-built Sea Kings that were finally retired from service in March 2016.
The first of the upgraded aircraft was delivered back to the Royal Navy in early 2018.
“Delivery of the Merlin Mk. 4/4A and the associated synthetic training environment within budget has been a challenging program for the combined enterprise but has resulted in increased availability, improved capability and a sustainable, world-beating helicopter for UK defense,” says Royal Navy Captain Nick Sargent, the Merlin program Team Leader.
The Merlins already are cleared to operate from the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships and Type 23 frigates, and will operate from the Type 45 destroyer, the Royal Navy states.
Col. Mark Johnson, commander of the Navy’s Commando Helicopter Force, said the aircraft already had demonstrated itself to be a “critical enabler of the Royal Navy’s strategic outputs”—enabling the Carrier Strike Group to deliver the F-35 from the maritime environment, and delivering the United Kingdom’s Commando forces in the littoral.
The Royal Navy now operates two models of Merlin. The Mk. 2 aircraft performs anti-submarine warfare, and when fitted with the Crowsnest radar also can perform airborne early warning for carriers.
Related Content
