Chapter 4 - Formations, Vessels, Aircraft and Vehicles of the Armed Forces
                             
Table 4.10 Aircraft fleets by type of aircraft in the Joint Helicopter Command and Joint Force
                        Harrier, at 1 April each year
The Joint Helicopter Command was formed on 1 October 1999.
The Joint Force Harrier was formed on 1 April 2000. See Table 4.9 for earlier data on RAF aircraft.
  Required Operating Fleet   FAF1  
Joint Helicopter Command Aircraft type 2003   2004   2005     2006   2007 2008 2009  
Royal Navy Helicopters Sea King HC42 33   33   33   || 29   26 26 26  
  Sea King HC63 -   -   -   || -   3 3 3  
  Lynx AH74 6   6   6   || 6   6 6 6  
  Gazelle4 8   8   -   || -   - - -  
 
Army Aviation Helicopters Lynx 116   116   98 5 || 74   68 59 36  
  Gazelle 113   113   91 5 || 57   45 42 12 6
  Apache ..   ..   ..     38   42 51 51  
  Islander 6   6   6   || 5   5 5 5  
  Defender 4000 -   -   3   || 3   3 3 4  
 
RAF Helicopters Chinook HC2 31   31   31   || 27   27 29 29  
  Puma HC1 37   37   37   || 26   24 23 22  
  Merlin Mk 3 18   18   18   || 15   15 15 22  
  Merlin MK3a -   -   -   || -   - 3 6  
 
Joint Force Harrier Aircraft type 2003   2004   2005     2006   2007 2008 2009  
Royal Navy Aircraft Sea Harrier FA22 26   17   8   || - 7 - - -  
  Harrier T4 / T8 4   4   2   || - 7 - - -  
 
RAF Aircraft (including OCUs8 ) Harrier GR 48   48   45   || 45   45 45 45  
  Harrier T10 / T12 8   8   7   || 7   7 6 7  
Source: MOD Resources and Plans
1. Forward Available Fleet - see Introduction to Chapter 4.
2. Prior to 2006 the Required Operational Fleet was the Aircraft Establishment plus the Air Engineering Pool (AEP). Sea King HC4 had an AEP of 4, and Sea
    Harrier FA2 an AEP of 2.
3. Sea King HC6 was brought into service from 1 April 2006 to replace Sea King HC4 undergoing modification.
4. Operated by the Royal Navy, but owned by the Army and included in the Army Aviation Helicopter figures.
5. Reduction due to restructuring under medium term strategy plans and moving personnel to Attack Helicopters.
6. Reflects restructuring of fleet to meet revised operational requirement.
7. The Sea Harrier and Harrier T8 were decommissioned prior to 1 April 2006.
8. Operational Conversion Units train qualified aircrew for different aircraft types. In editions of UKDS prior to 2006 these were shown separately. The RAF no
    longer identifies ROFs for OCUs separately from front line aircraft.