Finn Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Saw this posted online: Ottawa to send attack helicopters to Afghanistan at 15:23 on November 26, 2008, EDT. 11/26/2008 12:00:00 AM THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - The air force will soon have its own heavily armed attack helicopters in Afghanistan. Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the House of Commons today that eight specially modified CH-146 Griffon helicopters will be sent to Kandahar in the new year to fly escort for the new CH-47 Chinook transport choppers. The move represents an about-face for the Defence Department, which had asked NATO allies to fill that role. The air force has wanted to send Griffons overseas since the start of the mission in 2006, but Gen. Rick Hillier, the former chief of defence staff, said no. A small number of Griffon light utility helicopters have been adapted to carry missiles, a machine-gun and advanced sensors. Big transport helicopters, such as the Chinook, rarely operate in combat zones without attack helicopters to protect them against ground fire. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 Griffen as an attack helicopter? Surprised by that one. Did not think the engines would work well enough in the desert conditions. And a whole bunch of other factors. Well I guess some other nations are still not ready to step up to the plate and fulfill their NATO obligations. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NaOH Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 Wrong tool for the job but I guess if it's the only tool we have.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sean Bratton Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 As usual the reporting on this in the main stream media (print, in particular) is less than spectacular. Simple fact checking and a basic understanding of what they're supposed to be doing would go along way. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CHEYENNE56 Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Even with a medium load the Bell 412 /CH-146 is power limited on hot days , much less with altitude added....should be a interesting event. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Griffen as an attack helicopter? Surprised by that one. Did not think the engines would work well enough in the desert conditions. And a whole bunch of other factors.Well I guess some other nations are still not ready to step up to the plate and fulfill their NATO obligations. I agree... thought the Griffen had some real performance issues in hot / high conditions. Maybe they will just use them through the winter, in some of the lower areas? Or maybe they will end up chucking the co-pilot as a weight saving measure? It will be interesting to see some pictures of what the configuration will be. Could be something similar to the OH-58D, just a machine gun on one side with a couple of hellfires on the other. Lightweight and still gives you a bit of kick. Nothing like a dedicated attack helo though. Really have to thank those wonderful Brits and Canucks. They are doing a great job under very hard circumstances. Unlike certain other nations.... John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cadfael Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Escort & recce roles only. Armoured seats for the pilot/co-pilot, no added armour in the cabin. The crews will be wearing body armour. Weapons will be door guns only, C6 and/or M134D, with a possibility of the M3 in the fuutre. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spooky 01 Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Escort & recce roles only. Armoured seats for the pilot/co-pilot, no added armour in the cabin. The crews will be wearing body armour. Weapons will be door guns only, C6 and/or M134D, with a possibility of the M3 in the fuutre. Failing to see how that will add much of extra protection to the Chinook's they are supposed to be escorting... As far as I know the Chinook's are already equiped with door-gunners and the only advantage these extra bird's can offer is when they are escorting the Chinook's in an empty configuration, making them somewhat more manouvreable... Allthough the AH-64 would be You all-time favourite escort, these bird's are in pretty high demand so I can imagine there are simply not enough to go round. But didn't the Italian's develop an attack-helo quite some decades ago? I'm sure the mongoose would offer a better solution... And what about the Belgium's... Didn't they have an attack-capability with the A-106. Sure, they reconfigured these bird's making them incapable to carry any HOT's, but surely that mod can be reversed? And let us not forget our "new" Allies which happen to have some pretty heavy-metal by means of the Mi-24 Hind. Oops, silly me; I just seem to keep forgetting that these guy's still are not fully up to NATO-standard's. Besides, the sound of these bird's could of course inflict severe trauma's to the local population. No, it's much better to have our own guy's getting shot-up while trying to clean up dirty political issues... Funny how easy politicians can agree to bash into a country, but when it comes down to offering the coallition the best possible equipment they all seem to disagree... "Check Six....." Spooky. P.S.: Sorry for these critique's but having served in-country for 3 month's, losing some 15 good guy's along the way, announcements like these can realy rattle my cage so to speak... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sean Bratton Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 (edited) Oops. My bad. Edited November 29, 2008 by Sean Bratton Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bill-TGH Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 (edited) http://www.casr.ca/mp-ch146kandahar.htm Are there any plans to change the outward look of the helicopters ? like this ... http://www.casr.ca/doc-news-griffon-ingress.htm Edited December 1, 2008 by Bill-TGH Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bill-TGH Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitize...elicopters.aspx some interesting arguments on the Mi-8s that have been flying for Canada in November.... and was 408 Sqdn annouced for the Chinooks & Griffons this morning ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bill-TGH Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 http://defenceoftherealm.blogspot.com/ link has pics of the SkyLink Mi-8, and an interesting take on UK procurement and how that are a bit envious of the lucky Cannucks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adrian Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Griffen as an attack helicopter? Surprised by that one. Did not think the engines would work well enough in the desert conditions. And a whole bunch of other factors.Well I guess some other nations are still not ready to step up to the plate and fulfill their NATO obligations. :) The Canadian Forces is upgrading the engines and transmissions of the CH-146 Griffon to make it more suited for the hot conditions of Afghanistan. I do believe that there are many better helicopters suited for the job like a Kiowa or an Apache which I'm sure Canada could get their hands on... The CH-149 isn't militarized and is more meant for cold weather than the hot weather. The CH-142 Sea king is getting dangerously old and not that we could have used the CH-113 but I think it was stupidly scrapped. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
strikeeagle801 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 The Canadian Forces is upgrading the engines and transmissions of the CH-146 Griffon to make it more suited for the hot conditions of Afghanistan. I do believe that there are many better helicopters suited for the job like a Kiowa or an Apache which I'm sure Canada could get their hands on... The CH-149 isn't militarized and is more meant for cold weather than the hot weather. The CH-142 Sea king is getting dangerously old and not that we could have used the CH-113 but I think it was stupidly scrapped. A Canadian Apache would be cool! Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ishthe47guy Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 There's an article in the March (?) issue of Air Forces Magazine (Harrier on the cover) that has a small piece on both the CH-147 & the CH-146 operating over here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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