Helicopter support to British Force Cyprus transitioned from the Griffin HAR2 to the Puma HC2 on 31 March 2023, the Royal Air Force (RAF) announced on 3 April.
The final sortie by a Griffin saw it lead the newly tasked Puma over RAF Akrotiri with UK Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston and Commander of British Forces Cyprus Air Vice-Marshal Peter Squires aboard.
The Griffin HAR2 is based on the Bell 412 helicopter. Three Griffons operated by the RAF’s 84 Squadron, but supplied and maintained by civilian contractor Cobham, have been in service on Cyprus since 2003. The aircraft have been used as multi-role platforms, performing duties such as search and rescue, force protection, military aid to civilian authorities and ISTAR missions. They have also been used for fire fighting on Cyprus with the use of underslung ‘Bambi Buckets’.
The Pumas will offer greater capacity to British Force Cyprus compared to their predecessors; they can carry 16 passengers, 12 fully equipped troops or up to two tonnes of cargo compared to six fully equipped troops (eight if operationally essential) for the Griffins.
However, both the RAF’s fleet of 23 Puma HC2s and the Griffin HAR2s on Cyprus – along with five Bell 212s serving with the Army Air Corps’ (AAC’s) No 667 Squadron in Brunei and six special-forces-roled AS365 N3 Dauphin IIs operated by the AAC’s No 658 Squadron from the Special Air Service barracks at Credenhill in Herefordshire – are supposed to be being replaced under the UK’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) programme.
The schedule for the NMH has slipped over the last six months; a request for proposal was expected in the autumn of 2022 but has still not been issued.
Three platforms are currently vying to fill the NMH requirement: an Airbus Helicopters/Boeing team is bidding the Airbus H145M, Leonardo is bidding the AW149 and Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin) is bidding the S-70M Black Hawk.
The out-of-service date for the RAF’s fleet of 23 Puma HC2s is March 2025, along the UK Ministry of Defence has stated that this “will remain under operational review based on operational and non-operational commitments”.
Peter Felstead
