National and international military efforts to provide greater rotary lift for operations in Afghanistan are coming to fruition.

Royal Air Force AgustaWestland Merlin helicopters will shortly begin operations in Afghanistan, following the end of four months of training for the deployment, as part of an effort to increase the number of British support helicopters in-theater.

NATO, meanwhile, is also trying to provide additional capacity for the International Security Assistance Force by tapping the fleet of Mil Mi-17 Hip rotorcraft operated by some of its Eastern European members.

The RAF has been using the U.S. Navy’s El Centro facility in California for the Merlin work-up. The four-month exercise, dubbed Merlin Vortex, marks the RAF’s first use of El Centro for helicopter training and makes use of the local desert and mountains to certify crews for “brownout” landings in dusty conditions, high-altitude/hot-weather operations, flying with underslung loads, tactical flying and use of the Elbit Systems display night-vision-goggles system newly installed in the Merlin.

“The threat in Afghanistan is significantly greater than Iraq. The enemy is better trained, better equipped and more highly motivated. The terrain is mountainous and hotter, and the aircraft are operating at the edges of their envelope. The ab-initio crews need experience before they fly in that for the time period—bottom line,” says Lt. Cdr. Neil Parrock, Merlin Vortex detachment commander. “There is no way we can justify sending people there without this training, and we have no experience of Afghanistan in the Merlin force,” he adds.

Following the U.K. decision in mid-year to deploy the Merlin to Afghanistan, the establishment of the operation at El Centro was expedited in late August with the airlift of four HC3 helicopters directly from RAF Benson in England to California using RAF C-17s. Since then “we’ve had up to 40 crews through here, and we will process around 450 people including support staff,” says Parrock, who adds that this includes around 20 new crews who fly additional sorties as part of required ab-initio training.

Parrock says the mountain training is significant because of the high altitudes in the Afghan theater. The U.K.’s Camp Bastion base is at a 4,000-ft. altitude—versus sea level for most areas of Iraq—while operational sorties will see the Merlin fleet tasked to various sites around the Hindu Kush mountains, which run northeast to southwest across Afghanistan.

Pre-deployment training focuses on a series of tactical sorties to familiarize crews with night-vision goggles, tactical approaches, low flying and takeoffs, landing in pairs and gunnery. Pintel-mounted general-purpose machine guns have been installed in the Merlin HC3/3As along with several other modifications under urgent operational requirement upgrades. Other theater entry-standard modifications include communications and defensive aids system upgrades, improved ballistic protection and a more capable forward-looking infrared chin turret.

One of the four Merlins detached to California has been fitted with the BERP IV (British Experimental Rotor Program) advanced main rotor blade system, which will be standard on all aircraft deployed.

Besides trying to directly boost the U.K.’s comparatively small number of support helicopters deployed in Afghanistan, London is, with Paris, leading the Multinational Helicopter Initiative. This sets aside funding for rotorcraft-related developments. Funds from the program have been used for pre-deployment training.

Czech forces recently deployed four Mi-171s (along with Mi‑24/35 attack helicopters) to the Pyrenees mountains of France for pre-deployment training. In addition to working with helicopter landing sites above 3,000 ft., the forces also are exercising with night-vision equipment, says Maj. Karl Valvoda, the Czech commander in charge of the detachment. The exercise will also involve Czech helicopter crews operating with French army personnel to simulate Afghanistan operations.

Part of NATO’s problem in leveraging Eastern European Mil-fleets has been the inadequate training and lack of compatibility with NATO-standard equipment.

To help spur that effort, nine NATO members late last month signed up to be part of the helicopter task force and the Czech Republic, which leads the effort, committed to deploying three Mi-17s to Afghanistan this year. Hungary and Bulgaria also have said they are ready to sent transport helicopters to support ISAF, although no date has been set.

The task force is supposed to help countries that do not have the means to maintain deployed transport helicopter operations. The pooling system aims at making available those helicopters now sidelined from operations due to lack of crew training or equipment deficiencies.