Interesting. Still a lot of "take one on deck, unfold it, start it, send it somewhere to do something, land it back, cool it, fold it, take the second one out, unfold it, start it, send it somewhere, land it back, cool it, fold it, take it in" rinse-and-repeat type of ops. Or do one after the other while the first one is away, but still have to watch deck availability for emergencies or early returns.
Also, is the Wildcat a type of air asset/capability that either the RCN or the RCAF are looking at for the RCD's? Or even in general?
The whole deck cycle on the 289s was designed to launch one, then pull out the other, to put two in the screen. On the later deployments, when we did manage to take two, they were rarely flown that way. It was more having two meant it was easier to keep one serviceable.
To answer your second para, as I’ve said in other contexts, the RCN and RCAF need to sit down and actually figure out What embarked aviation effects they need and how they want to operate them… ie rewrite the embarked aviation CONOPs. I’m not sure they have the institutional capacity to do that.
Certainly if the government is serious about making the RCN larger than they’re going to need a larger embarked aviation force, and at the point it probably does not make sense to have them all “Big Dippers” (ie Merlin or Cyclone like). Once you know that, and how much of the effects requirements can be met with unmanned, then you can determine whether any remaining gaps are best filled with something like the Wildcat.
Add to that whether there is an emergent need for littoral lift (he junglie EH-101 / USMC UH-1 like)?
And all of this is best decided before the future of Cyclone is.
The RN FAA is a good model for what an enlarged embarked aviation might need, but obviously bigger than all but outr grandest aspirations… the also gave to support the carriers and true amphibious capabilities (if they ever sort out where they’re going). An embarked AEW kit for Cyclone isn’t even that much of a stretch.
So, might we need a Wildcat like capability in the fullness of time if we are serious in becoming a high end middle power…
Edited: niit to beat a dead horse, but it also means a mix of Romeo’s and Sierras are a lot more attractive. Meets many of the discussed needs in a mostly common airframe, in the middle ground between Merlin/Cyclone and Wildcat. It is also very close in size to the NH-90, which the Svalbard was originally intended to operate, and is being replaced in Norwegian service by 60Rs.
