Page 79 - HeliOps Frontline Issue 26

HELIOPS FRONTLINE / ISSUE 26 / 2019 79

space in the hangars of the frigates, the main rotor blades of the
Puma Naval can be folded backwards.
All three helicopters are equipped to work with Special Forces
from home and abroad. ‘We particularly work with our own naval
Special Forces (SF) but we have a lot of procedures in common
with the land forces too. Troops train with our aircraft because we
have all the equipment we need for insertion and extraction in
maritime operations, including fastrope and rigrope. We can drop
paratroopers, execute diver jumps with little and heavy equipment
and are trained to execute day and night missions with Special
Forces’ lists the commander of the unit.
Since 2015, the Puma Navals are equipped to operate as an
anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapons platform. For the purpose of
these operations, the aircraft can accommodate an acoustic console
and sonobuoy launcher as well as a LINK-11 Data Link Systems