New IAR 330 Puma Naval Helicopter

[Iamandi]

"Presentation of the IAR 330 Puma Naval Helicopter


(Source: Romanian Ministry of Defence; issued Jan. 30, 2007)




The Romanian-developed Puma Naval seen prior to its first presentation flight. Note nose-mounted sensor ball.(Romanian MoD photo)The chief of the Navy Staff, Rear-Admiral Dorin Danila and the chief of the Air Force Staff, Lieutenant General Gheorghe Catrina, the representatives of the constructor and the local and central authorities participated today, January 30 at IAR Ghimbav headquarterS in the presentation of the first IAR 330 Puma Naval helicopter.

They presented the stage of the running of the program of endowment with this type of helicopter made for the first time by the Romanian aeronautic industry and the delivery plan of three helicopters for the Navy.

After the test period in Ghimbav, the naval helicopter will be tested on board of the frigates to be certified for search, rescue, evacuation of wounded people and surveillance on the sea.

The first eight officers, the pilots on these helicopters on board of frigates, started the training program in December 2005. This program is structured on three modules and developed at the School of Air Force Training “Aurel Vlaicu” from Bobocu and in other air bases.

Simultaneously, 18 NCOs are trained for exploitation and maintenance of the naval helicopters. "

Text and link to the article' picture at:

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/c...E&modele=jdc_34

Iama

[Hadrian]

Helo,

The first one entered service. See http://www.mapn.ro/fotodb/20070713Puma naval.

There are also 2 corvetes with flyiing deck for helicopters. Why only 3?.. Also the ex-british frigates could acomodate two Linx, we only put 1 helicopter on them.

One question is if these helicopters are able to hunt submarines with sonar and torpedoes. This is the primary mission of a naval helicopter, but for moment there aren`t any info`s about it.

[Vici]

True, the two Tetal II class corvettes have flight decks, but they do not have hangars, so you can't base a helicopter on them. If a storm hits the ship, it will smash the unsheltered helicopter. Less extreme weather, such as hail, icing or snow can also damage it if it's out in the open.

Indeed, the hangar on the Type 22 can take two Lynx, but it is much smaller than the Puma, so only one of the latter will fit inside. So only the three frigates (2xType 22 plus Marasesti) can shelter one Puma each, that's the reason why only 3 were purchased.

They are to be progresively equipped and armed. For example, the third (no. 142) was delivered early this year with a surface search radar mounted under the nose. The other two will also be retrofitted with it, probably anti-shipping missiles integrated with that specific radar are to follow.

See the Puma with the radar here:
http://navy.ro/media/rmr/rmr131.pdf
on page 18

This post has been edited by Vici on June 17, 2009 08:19 am

[Hadrian]

Thanks for infos Vici.

It would be interesting to see how the new corvettes (planned to be bought) will look.
Maybe some drones (like the Fire Scout) could be added beside the helicopter inventory. Used as target designators for new longer range mssiles (Like Saab RBS-15, range 200 km), with targets found by the new SW surface radar planned to be bought (detection range 370 km for ships), several vessels can efectively control the western area of the Black Sea.

[Iamandi]

"Amiral Murgescu" minelayer can have one IAR 316 helicopter?

[Vici]

You're right, but I didn't mention it since Murgescu (271) is no longer in use.
It is moored in exactly the same place in Mangalia since at least 2004, while the rest of the mining / demining fleet is based at Constanta.

What I failed to mention is that the two "Croitor" class logistic and training ships (Constanta and Midia) have flight decks and hangars, so these could also operate Pumas - at least in theory.