Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter lands on HMS Dragon
The Royal Navy’s Wildcat helicopter has landed on the flight deck of a Type 45 destroyer, HMS Dragon, at sea as part of sea trials with 700W Naval Air Squadron.
The Wildcat is the maritime attack variant of the Lynx helicopter. It will begin to replace the Lynx Mk 8 as the Royal Navy’s destroyer and frigate support helicopter from 2015.
Capt Iain Lower, the Type 45’s commanding officer, said: ‘Today is a small, but exciting, step in the progression of this new capability and I am delighted that HMS Dragon was able to help. I look forward to seeing what the aircraft can do when we put it through its paces later this month.’
The Wildcat helicopter will embark on HMS Dragon later this month as part of Exercise Joint Warrior off the Scottish coast.
Operational sea training with a Type 23 frigate will also commence in the autumn of 2014.
Lt Cdr Simon Collins, commanding officer of 700W Naval Air Squadron, said: ‘This year will be one of many firsts for the Wildcat crews as we work with our industry partners to get the aircraft to sea as soon as we can. Deck landings on board a Type 45 at sea are a real milestone and it was a pleasure to join the HMS Dragon team to show them what Wildcat can do.’
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