U.K. Parliament Warns Of Helicopter Shortages

Jul 18, 2011 By Robert Wall aerospace daily and defense report

LONDON — After years of concern over the number of helicopters available to U.K. forces operating in Afghanistan, a U.K. parliamentary committee warns the situation remains unresolved.

“We are conscious that our predecessor committee was told in previous inquiries that U.K. forces have enough helicopters only to discover subsequently that this was not true. We are not convinced that U.K. forces yet have access to sufficient helicopter hours,” the House of Commons defense committee states in a new report on Afghanistan.

The legislators are requesting more data from the defense ministry, in particular that the ministry “set out how the new helicopters delivered into theatre have impacted on the availability of helicopter hours, any outstanding delivery of helicopters and how much reliance and use we are making of helicopters from the U.S.A. and other countries.”

The legislators also express concern that the defense ministry is not moving fast enough to get vehicles, equipment for countering roadside bombs, and body army into troop hands and say that spending should be prioritized.

Also, the report argues that operational costs should be paid from central Treasury accounts, rather than from the defense budget.

They are asking the government for “confirmation that all additional costs for Afghanistan are being met and will continue to be met from the general reserve” and ask that the same accounting be applied for Libya operations. They also are requesting that the National Accounting Office determine what Afghanistan operational costs are.