Who said Navy Helicopters had to be grey?

[GTX]

Some more pics - spot the Army helicopter if you can:






BTW,

if anyone wants higher resolution copies of these pics, just PM me.

Regards,

Greg

[Maverick]

Nice pics Greg, thanks for sharing.

I'm confused though on a couple of points.

1.  Are the Navy opting for the TTH variant and not the NFH?  If so will these be for transport/support duties instead of ASW?  This might have been answered earlier, but I can't recall.

2.  Ok, they've gone with the ARA camo for 'commonality' for the moment, but what's up with using the ARA Roo on the fuselage side and not the RAN roundel?  Is it possibly the case of using Army allocated airframes to show the Navy what's going to be, instead of the 'commonality' idea?  Once they get their own, might these cammied machines not revert back to ARA ownership?

Regards,

John

[GTX]

John,

1.  Are the Navy opting for the TTH variant and not the NFH?  If so will these be for transport/support duties instead of ASW?  This might have been answered earlier, but I can't recall.

The Navy's MRH-90s will be identical to the Army's - both a variants of the NH-90 TTH variant.  They are to replace the Seakings and thus will be be for transport/support duties.  Now that the Seasprite is gone, there is a chance of the NFH-90 being selected to replace both the Seasprite and Seahawk.

2.  Ok, they've gone with the ARA camo for 'commonality' for the moment, but what's up with using the ARA Roo on the fuselage side and not the RAN roundel?  Is it possibly the case of using Army allocated airframes to show the Navy what's going to be, instead of the 'commonality' idea?  Once they get their own, might these cammied machines not revert back to ARA ownership?

No, these aren't simply a "...case of using Army allocated airframes to show the Navy what's going to be...", the 002 bird shown is the first Navy allocated bird and will remain that scheme (at least until an Admiral or similar says to change it) - mind you there it took a long time for that to be agreed to.  Largely it came down to price - "sure we can paint your's grey, but that will cost more!"

BTW - the images here are about 1/4 the size of the originals - they are great for picking our detail.

Regards,

Greg

[Maverick]

Thanks for that Greg,

I just thought it was odd that they had Army style Roos instead of Navy roundels.

Regards,

John

[Captain Canada]

Great shots....thanks for sharing ! Love the colours, and all the lumps and bumps. Excellent stuff !