28. The Honourable Company of Air Pilots, Tymms Lecture, 20 September 2023


34 Livery Company Masters joined with members and colleagues of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots for the annual Tymms lecture on ‘The British Army’s Attack Helicopter Capability’ presented by Colonel David Amlôt MBE at the RAF Club.  Many of the Masters and I were not familiar with the subject but we all found the presentation fascinating.  He gave us a brief history of the Apache helicopter, a summary of operations in Afghanistan and Libya in the last two years and then focused on the new AH-64E V6 Guardian and its unique capabilities.

The aircraft has evolved over many years in light of experience in different theatres.  He described it as a digital aircraft and the pilot sits in the back seat as they can see more (often claimed by other back seat drivers).  The controls are duplicated for the front seat for the second pilot.  It takes 42 days to build with all components easily replaced.  Eight months are needed to learn to fly and eight months to learn to fight.  The pilots are provided with night sight, front digital display and critical control information in their head sets.

Several questions related to operational experience and general learning points from the situation in Ukraine.  The contrast was noted between the trench warfare not much advanced from the First World War and the use of sophisticated, often cheap and disposable drones.  The presentation generated many discussions.

I then took a quick dash (by bus) up Park Lane to an IEMA event near Paddington targeted at new members.  We shared details on the role of the Water Conservators and the experiences of young environmental professionals.  I felt I had learnt a lot in one evening.

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