MoD forced to hire civilian helicopters in Afghanistan

[cal04]

Britain is so short of helicopters in Afghanistan that military chiefs are being forced to scour the world for civilian aircraft to support its troops after the US rejected a plea to help plug the shortfall.

An ageing fleet of just eight Chinooks is working around the clock to supply and reinforce soldiers in remote outposts facing waves of Taliban attacks. The only Chinook in the Falklands was taken away for use in the campaign.

The revelations come in the wake of the outburst by General Sir Richard Dannatt, the army chief, against the Government's military strategy last week.

The Independent on Sunday can also reveal that reconnaissance and intelligence missions in Afghanistan are being affected by the lack of smaller and more flexible helicopters. But senior military officials said that when UK commanders asked for temporary deployment of US helicopters in Afghanistan, they were told there were none to spare.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1873831.ece

[wakeme2008]

1. Chinooks were good copters during the Vietnam War....

:shrug: a little long in the tooth today.....

[Wickerman]

2. "...after the US rejected a plea to help plug the shortfall."

Yep, and the reason why they won't help? The US doesn't have enough helicopters to go around. Long-standing diplomatic units in Europe are being reclassified, retrained, and reassigned to combat and medivac in the two war theaters. Through hubris, poor management, and lack of planning we are well on our way to losing this one.

[babylonsister]

3. What a total gagglefuck! Our one major 'partner in crime' and we

don't have the tools to help? Time to wrap it up and bring everyone home. This is a lose-lose situation and has been since it started.

[stillcool]

4. Wow... I wonder who..

Duke Cunningham gave all the aircraft money to?