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Wildcat trials continue with first landing on frigate at sea
The AgustaWestland AW159 Lynx Wildcat has touched down on a frigate at sea for the first time as it continues ship landing trials.
In November, the Wildcat made its first deck landing on the the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) aviation training ship Argus just off the south coast of the UK as part of SHOL (ship helicopter operating limits) trials to get the aircraft into navy service.
Now the aircraft will spend the next month flying from the HMS Iron Duke in the English Channel. A team of 30 experts has joined the Type 23 frigate for the evaluation; the ship has also been fitted with specialist instruments to record every aspect of the trials.
Initially trials will take place in Lyme Bay, before HMS Iron Duke sails westwards, searching for rough weather to help define the helicopter's operating limits 'over the full envelope of operations'.
The trials should take until around early February 2012 after which a period of some nine months is required to analyse and evaluate all the information gathered.
The first Wildcat arrives at Yeovilton, currently the home of the navy's Lynx Force in January 2013, when the team at 700W [W for Wildcat] Naval Air Squadron will determine how aircrews will operate the helicopter on deployment. At the same time, a training course will be designed ahead of the first Wildcat crews converting from the existing Lynx joining 702 NAS, the Lynx operational training unit, in January 2014.
From there, the qualified crews will move to the front line Lynx squadron, 815 NAS, which provides frigates, destroyers and the navy's ice patrol ships with dedicated flights of helicopters, plus air and ground crew, for their global deployments. The first Wildcat Flight is earmarked to deploy in 2015.
Some 62 Wildcats are being bought by the MoD: 34 for the Army Air Corps and 28 for the Fleet Air Arm. The army variant is due to begin operations in 2014.
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