New era begins at RAF Akrotiri as Pumas replace Griffin helicopters
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 เม.ย. 2023
- Three Puma helicopters have begun a new role delivering emergency response, firefighting and military support across British Forces Cyprus.
The Pumas are replacing the Griffin helicopters that have operated at RAF Akrotiri for the last 20 years.
In keeping with tradition, a ceremonial handover took place in the air as two Griffins and two Pumas flew in formation across Cyprus.
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Good to see the RAF introducing 'modern' helicopters to Cyprus - tongue firmly in cheek as I worked on the Pumas back in the early 80s and first saw one in RAF service in about 1972! Still, they've certainly earned their keep over the last half Century.
Breaking news, the RAF is investing fifty quid on a second hand starter motor for its newest fighter plane,the Spitfire.The MOD will be holding a whip round to cover the cost.
I hear china's doing good deals on knock off balloons
How sad our military has become, replacing 1960's tech with 1980's tech in 2023
Ooh your pushing the budget limit there!!!!.
Lol
Ancient choppers long overdue for replacement finally get replaced by even more ancient choppers, which are even more overdue for replacement. These will then get replaced by a new medium helicopter that is already long overdue and no doubt will be late, over budget and in reduced numbers. You can always rely on the MOD to waste money whilst reducing capability and numbers…..🤦🏻♂️
That is so true. And then they wonder why our capability has been eroded. They haven't got the sense to see that it's their own fault.
I was gonna say...I'm not familiar with these helos but they both look quite old!
The MoD needs gutting
@@Doug97803 This is true for Germany as well. Many Euro nations got complacent and relied too heavily on the United States for military protection.
@@Doug97803 long overdue
2:43 this is exactly how i expect all pilots to look to be fair.
windswept
impeccable bants from the flight crew, I would probably do something similar for the TV
@@thepeacockk nah, I don't think it is, I have seen this guy before when he gave interviews after the recent wildfires, I think this is his day to day look.
LMAOOOO
Needs to discover what a razor is for!
Interesting - the Puma was used by the South African Defense Force in the war against Angolan, Cuban and Russian forces in Angola. in the 1980s.
Glorious facial hair!
Call them Griffins... To me it's a Huey with twin engines and a 4 blade Rotor.. 😁
I’d call it an (Agusta) Bell 412.
@@heli-crewhgs5285 it is what it is.
Lets just call them the CHOPPER...
@@heli-crewhgs5285 Bell 412, huey same aircraft. Just different modifications. As ones a military and the other is civilian.
@@sinisterisrandom8537 The UH-1N has literally NOTHING in common with the original Huey aside from the general shape of it. Literally everything, including its physical size was changed.
griffin also does night ops, still going strong in canada probably due to budget as always but great chopper it is, puma is alright too but a very strong down wash
Canada should give them to Ukraine for night ops. Whatever the hell that means.
@@eanerickson8915 what?
@@eanerickson8915 How many braincells you got going in there
@@dorsets9295 Not too many. I tried to qualify as the one of those dudes that looks out for branch and teaches you how to use seat belts. Didn't qualify. I only froze my ass off in the winter. What did you learn if the army beside hair dressing?
@@eanerickson8915 Not in yet, will be after college though 👍 just confused by your first comment
That’s what you call a Marvellous Moustache
They are backup rotors.
I can't belief that magnificent stache didn't violate RAF regulations
Sat on the side of those Griffin's 18 years ago in Cyprus and the Puma before that in N.I
Shows how overdue replacements the rotary fleet is now.
I went through the same drama and rigmarole when I changed my car recently.
Pumas shouldn't be replacing anything at their age
Meanwhile, in other news, HMS Prince of Wales is to be kitted out with new Seafire Aeroplanes!
As a former Canadian infantry officer with the Rappel Master qualification, I've rappelled out of Griffins, dispatched troops from them, and flown at lower than treetop-level in them many times in Gagetown, Wainwright, and Petawawa. The Griffin is a great helicopter. Also had a flight over the Jamaican Blue Mountains in one (with a beautiful female pilot) between Kingston and another camp on a SOF operation, and worked with 427 Sqn for a SOF nightime urban ops exercise over the 55-story Scotiabank Tower in Montreal. And now... after I've been out for a decade... pretty much everything seems boring.
It' cool that they have a hand over ceremony
That 1 mans curly moustache is amazing 😊
Ooh don't it look sunny! I bet it's too hot though. Cyprus has some fascinating history. Aphrodite and Adonis were both born there so they had 'hot' people too - albeit mythical. Also, a major source of copper which was very important during the Bronze Age (you need copper to make bronze).
The name ‘Cyprus’ means copper. Think of ‘cupro.’
Still? I remember making airfix models of the Puma when I was a kid 40 years ago... world leading technology 😂
They don't need anything too high tech. Just need something reliable and cost-effective to run. Hence the Puma is ideal. Also has bigger carrying capacity for troops or SAR operations than the Griffin.
@@Blackmamba12345eren't the Huey family (Bell 412/Griffin) is alot more versatile and cheaper to operate though, it saw service everywhere from civilian and military, and in large quantities as well.
The airframe maybe very old tech, but all the gizmos on the flight deck are much more modern. Years ago I flew in a C47 operated by Crab Air. From the flight deck back it was pure WW2, but the kit in the cabin was totally current.
@@VandalAudi The Griffin is not as capable, it is less powerful than the Puma and cannot carry as much payload. The Puma has a longer range too so it's better for the role.
Puma pilots used to love making erks barf in the jumpseat.
Sigh... the first time I went to Cyprus with the Army, they were talking about retiring a pair of Wessex....
You don't remember the excitement of Wessex replacing Whirlwind? You child!
Very fortunate to have had a flight in a Griffin about 15 years ago in Cyrpus as a RAF cadet.
Space cadet you mean. Oh how we loved you lot, we always had you lot in later life, say that you wanted to sign up, but failed the medical.
@@marknorville9827 pretty much !
That felt personal, Mark.
Lol 🤝
Pumas are older than Griiffins. What's going on here?
And Griffin only has 1 pilot?
what a PR show. Handover retirement my ass, budget is the word here.
MoD can’t afford the lease on the Griffins anymore😂😂
Money saving no doubt.
I know a country that could really use even out of date helicopters.
2:35 with these moustaches he does not need a helo to fly...
Permanently Unserviceable Military Aircraft
Oh nice I went to akrotri for 2 weeks in 96 when I was in the air cadets the rede went still there this was the last camp I went on
Puma must be getting on now.
Damn the audio at the start
Aww, FN has got the captions mixed up. The first officer was an old FLT. The chap with the great “Biggles” moustache was the Air Vice Marshall. Wearing that moustache every day is deserving of the rank!
What is going to replace the Puma? It sounds as if it's not planned to be there relatively long.
There's a New Medium Helicopter competition on going to replace a few different helicopters. I think there's four different possibilities.
There are currently 2 really strong contenders and 2 weak ones.
H175M from Boeing UK/Airbus which is all but certain to win
S-70M from Lockheed which is a modified Blackhawk
AW149 from Leonardo and MH139 from Boeing are also in the running but unlikely to win.
Also the MoD has shown interest in replacing/supplementing some of the current Chinooks with V-280 Valors for the new UK Ranger units.
@@mandalorian_guy I thought the Leonardo offering would be a strong contender as they are promising a UK assembly line?
@@mandalorian_guy Thanks.
@@mandalorian_guy With the excepton of types you've pulled all of that out your arse.
AW149 has always been favoured, with the Airbus option next. The Black Hawk will never be accepted. There has been no mention of the V280 from any party.
Stop spreading misinformation.
Farewell Griffin
I used to be "THE BODY" ar Odiham back in the day.
I was actually a pongo at nearby Sandhurst at the time but because I love to fly, would often go to Odiham and get winched by the Pumas.
I was briefed to play unconscious sometimes just to make things a bit more difficult for the crews. I have always thought of the Puma as a Happy friendly looking helicopter. The poor old Wessex just looked ugly in comparison.
Happy days.
Now they can feel the pleasure to fly with the doors open and sit in the edge of the floor in their way to the LZ
I maybe wrong but I thought the pumas are old as-well seen the exact same ones with Kenya airforce back in the 90s
What exact Puma is it? The original one from the 60s? Or the newer Super Puma? Still old tho.
Even that dude moustache are more modern than this pumas 😂😂😂
0:19 She's that person you mute at the start of the game because she swallowed the mic.
The US Marines love these Puma’s. Use them for CC and ground attack.
It's Griffon, not "Griffin".
I thought Rambo blew up all the hinds in Vietnam and Afghanistan, didn't know they made their way to Cyprus after 35 years :D
Cutting costs on the contract ?
That 'tache is it comic relief time?🤣
I heard that the UK only has 80k military personal. That's so little. Can anyone verify this.
Total is about 200k
Weren’t we getting rid of the Puma ?
Still are just later than the Griffin.
RAF should change to the new generation of the ancient Puma, the Airbus Caracal, the most advanced version currently.
I suppose it could be worse, I expect the MoD will next announce they will be reintroducing man-lifting kites and possibly balloons.
And isn't the Pums due be replaced
Whilehall & Treasury need a Blue X
I like how everything anyone said just screams “wrong decision, wrong aircraft and a last resort to save money” … MOD is in a complete shambles
@god bless farage pumas ?
When will they arrive in Ukraine?
They're both ancient.
So when is the final decision being made on the NEW MEDIUM HELICOPTER?. The Puma is supposed to be retired in 2025 so arent we cutting it a bit fine?.........
More downsizing or...?
There are some glaring errors in this report, try to obtain facts instead of just guessing.
Enlighten us - what errors do you think there are?
Blows my mind that helicopters can stay up in the air with their rotors going so slow.
Why can't I stay up in the air when I spin my arms?
What happened to the merlins? I thought they was newer than pumas...could never fathom out why they didnt turn some of their pumas into gunships, like the SA oryx and the Lebanese did theirs..
I believe all the Merlin's went to the Navy. Puma is only a temporary replacement, ultimately they want something lighter than the Merlin as despite being classed as medium it's pretty hefty.
The Merlin fleet all went to the Navy to support the Commando force. All converted to fully be marinised with folding rotors & tails.
@@davidhouseman4328 Sounds like a job for the wildcat then
@@louisgordon4388 it's inbetween Merlin and Wildcat. If it was just few you'd make do with a few of both but the 40+ planned is likely enough for its own type.
No need to add guns to the Puma, it's noisy enough to disable any adversary (and friendly troops)
Why Pumas are on the way out?
Apparently a replacement choice is between airbus H175M & leonardo AW149.
@@cliffhigson7581 I heard the same. Both look OK.
cool beard tache thing!
could always bring back the wessex
British UH-1Y?
Pumas!!!!????, they were held together by silver tape and super glue in the late 90s!!!!!.
Used them in Jordan on saffron sands
Can you gift to the Philippines our air force need helicopter to quick response to the disaster like flood, Earthquake and others
The year - 2023
We are replacing 1960's helicopter with a 1980's helicopter.
So embarrassing but nothing new for our armed forces sad and ashamed to say.
it looks like a Huey
Patrolling an island they don’t own for no reason very British
You might call them Pumas i call them old going on decrepit! Britain has a defence budget so small it would be hard to find using a microscope 🔬 🙄
Hueys are way easier to maintain. Why call them griffins?
because the griffin is different than the Huey, search both up and compare.
Griffin is part of the Huey family, which is a rather large family of helicopters, looks the same but with inherent diferrences, like you might look like your grandparents but you are not them.
The Bell 412 Griffin has two-engines and four rotor blades whereas the Bell UH-1 Huey has one engine and two rotor blades.
Puma, the helicopter that kills offshore workers, better the big Sikorsky Norway uses - you even get music in your ear defenders/
Public Private partnership NOT fit for Purpose
Military were fine without WEF interference
Climate change ?
And now being replaced again by H145s
The Army are forced to shave! I thought you were all tri-services now? Should be across the board
In the days when Britain was the great, they made their own choppers. Now UK have to buy the chopper instead. UK shadow of GT Britain
Errrrr .... The UK still builds its own helicopters. The RAF Pumas were built in the UK in a deal where the French bought the Lynx.
@@1chish The Pumas were built half a century ago.
@@1chish errrr UK used to make their own helicopter, sea king, lynx, Wessex, wasp. All built in UK by Westland, a UK company. Are you really saying the airbus helicopter is the UK company? Get with program. UK a joke now, buy most of military equipment from Europe and USA. God bless America
@@paolodechipiece1027 Airbus do not build helicopters in the UK so I am not sure why you had to make that arsewipe comment. Maybe YOU need to 'get with the programme' 'Paolo'?
The UK still builds helicopters at Westlands in Yeovil (Now called Agusta Westland) and have produced or are producing Merlin, AW189, Apache and currently 62 Wildcat helicopters for the Army and Navy which has also been exported to the Philipines and South Korea. Like the Merlin was also exported to Japan and elsewhere.
As for your last comment sorry to disappoint you but whatever we buy from Europe is what we have built as part of a consortium (like Typhoon and A400M) and only certain aircraft like the F-35 from the USA again because we are part of the manufacturing group being the only Tier One Partner..
Having said that the UK is the largest foreign supplier to the US Military and happens to be the largest inward investor into the USA.
So the only 'joke' here is yourself 🤡so go take your abusive stupidity and shove it up your legendary fat Yank arse 'Paolo'.
@@minuteman4199 Indeed they were. I never said otherwise so I am glad we agree they were indeed built in the UK.
More cuts and money wasted, as Puma itself is to be replace, just an excuse to reduce numbers.
Gotta funnel that taxpayer money to private companies...
Civvy company are payed to maintain Griffin, RAF personnel maintain Puma. Almost like that actually saves money.
@@VanderlyndenJengold Maybe in the USA .....
Nope. A bigger capability, RAF maintained and flown so no numbers being reduced.
And yes Puma will be replaced but not for a couple of years so still valuable service to do.
@@1chish Not sure how you work that out mucker, the "crabs" have 23 Puma's, 5 which are in storage, so we lose 3 Griffin's, and it's not a cut! When the MoD finally do chose the replacement Medium Lift, the numbers bought will be lower, simple as that, they won't have to include replacing the 3 Griffin's.
2 helicopters 😂 deary me
Very effective at their jobs and all that was needed
Can you explain why more than two helicopters performing these roles are needed, Fish?
@Swan fish is one 9f those that comment how small countries armies all day while absolutely nothing about anything military
@@x67th absolutely,glad you asked,the guy said climate change is getting worse,they are being called out more and more,working in 55 degrees heat whilst doing so..massive fires damaging all sorts,so whilst the "2" helicopters are tackling that..who is helping the other emergencies? Just another case of under funding,if that was America they would have atleast 10
@Fish Maybe you should check how many other airbourne fire fighting vehicles Cyprus operates. These helicopters are "2" of about 15/20 vehicles with only 9000 sq² of land to cover. They are very well equipped actually.
Terrible choice
Yep another British LIGHTWEIGHT sob story the griffin what the ever that is will be replaced by the puma made in 1978 watch out bad guys
That's a modified Vietnam Era Huey😂😅.
British Aviation is DEAD.
In Forces News We Trust
Well done. Good reporting. Go Democrats.
?
??
“Go democrats”?!?! Are you on strong medication?
Pumas are an ugly heli lol.
Not when ones chasing rambo about in his huey they're not!!!.
Ugh! Silly "climate change" references again!
Why's it silly? It's very relevant to Forest/Bush fires.
@David Houseman It was hotter during the Viking age than it is now, global warming is natural and unchangeable.
@@mikeycraig8970 Nope, I kind of forgot there were still people denying manmade climate change.
@David Houseman Yet the facts still laugh in your face lol.
@@davidhouseman4328 no surprise, he even has the type of face u expect when dealing with that sort
Climate change 🤣
Thank you President Putin for bringing freedom to mankind.Thank you Russians for this great sacrifice.The world will never forget who truly liberated mankind.
Never knew this existed but isn't it just a old Huey
Idk those griffins are whole lot more trust worthy and reliable than those 2 beaten to death pumas.
Is that tash in line with Queens Regs 🥸😆
That moustache/beard isn't within RAF dress regulations, surely?!