What were the future challenges facing the armed forces and the Joint Helicopter Command in particular? How could the defence industry help to create a more effective battlefield helicopter capability? In order to help answer these two questions, Rear-Adm Johnstone-Burt explores the strengths of rotorcraft and the Joint Service approach and the strategic challenges that the Joint Helicopter Command and the UK’s armed forces more broadly faced, including those brought about by the use of social media.

At the end of his lecture Rear-Adm Johnstone-Burt invites his audience to tell him how industry can help the armed forces to use new technology to best face these new challenges. The post-lecture discussion takes up this challenge by exploring MOD procurement and the aircraft industry. There is also discussion over other challenges faced by those who managed rotorcraft operations in British armed forces.

Rear-Adm Tony Johnstone-Burt FRAeS addressed a meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Air Power Group on 18 June 2009. The material and information contained in this lecture are UK Ministry of Defence © Crown copyright 2009 and the recording is the copyright of the Royal Aeronautical Society 2009. The podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.