SECRET UK EYES A LOCSEN
now submitted a paper to the Air
to the Air Force Department which
recommended in-theatre as opposed to reinforcement crews.
This was in order that he be able to satisfy the contingency
requirement to lift a company in 2 lifts rather than the
simultaneous lift of a platoon. CRAF had also advocated in
his paper that the current daily flying rate (225 hours for
8 aircraft) should not be reduced (to 175 hours for 6
aircraft). The Air Force Department had advised that in
order for his proposals in respect of aircrew to be
considered, then the recommendations of the HQ BFHK
Helicopter Study would need to be available by 1 Jul 89.
34. SO2 J3 HQ BFHK said that it would certainly be possible
to produce the results of the WESSEX part of the study by
1 Jul 89 but that the necessity to conduct the trials
already decided upon would mean that the aspect devoted to
SCOUT aircraft would not be available until Oct 89.
He
proposed that the 2 be descoupled in order to satisfy the
earlier requirement. The Chairman agreed that these were
2 separate issues. He asked
asked that the WESSEX study be
produced by 1 Jul 89 in order that the Air Force Department
time scale could be met. He asked HELS 1 if the proposal
was satisfactory and to confirm that LTC process would not
pre-empt any decisions made. HELS1 said that the proposal
would make due allowance for the parameters of the LTC process in respect of both aircrew ratios and flying rates. The committee endorsed the proposals.
Army Dept
Air Force Dept
HQ BFHK
ITEM 6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
35. The Chairman invited members of the Committee to raise
other business. DN Plans drew attention to what he
perceived might be a problem affecting all 3 Services, that
of matching levels of military activity to the changing
patterns in-theatre to which CBF had earlier alluded. He suggested that there might be some justification for a
mechanism whereby these become more widely known and the
LOCSEN SECRET UK EYES A