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Plans to consolidate JHC bases abandoned
A Ministry of Defence study into the consolidatation of Joint Helicopter Command bases has been cancelled.
The cancellation of the £2 million study, dubbed Project Belvedere, was announced by the Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth in the House of Commons on Thursday.
He said that the study seemed unlikely to produce the required savings.
The decision secures the future of RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, home to the RAF's Merlin and Puma fleets. Later this year, 230 Sqn flying the Puma will move its helicopters and personnel from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Benson, consolidating the Puma fleet at one station.
The decision means that RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire will officially close in 2012.
This had already been announced by the government back in 2003, but it was thought by many that Project Belvedere would offer the base a reprieve because of its close proximity to the Salisbury Plain used by Joint Helicopter Command for training. The fleet of C-130 Hercules transport aircraft will move to RAF Brize Norton in 2011.
Mr Ainsworth said: "This decision also means that RAF Lyneham is no longer under consideration as a basing option for the Joint Helicopter Command.
"The then Minister for the Armed Forces announced on 4 July 2003 that following movement of the C130 fleet to RAF Brize Norton, 'if no further defence use is identified for Royal Air Force Lyneham, the station will be closed and disposed of'."
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