The Report of the Iraq Inquiry

34. One of the outcomes of the Review was the creation of the Joint Helicopter

Command (JHC). The JHC brought the Royal Navy’s commando helicopters, the Army’s

attack and light utility helicopters, and the RAF’s support helicopters under a single

command, and was responsible for the peacetime management of the entire battlefield

helicopter fleet, and for generating the required battlefield helicopter force package

for operations.16

35. The SDR also provided some detail on the equipment required to support the new

type of expeditionary operations that it envisaged. Those included:

• new strategic lift assets, both C17 heavy‑lift aircraft and Roll‑on Roll‑off shipping;

• a new helicopter carrier;

• attack helicopters;

• additional support helicopters;

• an increase in the provision of ISTAR assets including Unmanned Aerial

Vehicles (UAVs);

• a modernised air transport fleet; and

• the creation of two Joint Force Logistic Component Headquarters.

36. The SDR acknowledged that “major equipments take years to develop”. While it

identified no definitive timescales for its proposed changes, the MOD did publish a series

of targets in December 1998 as part of their Public Service Agreement 1999‑2002.17

Those included establishing the Full Joint Rapid Reaction Forces Capability by October

2001 and the Joint Helicopter Command by April 2000.

37. The SDR emphasised the importance of investment in ISTAR assets “not only to

maintain a qualitative edge in combat but to facilitate the often rapid‑decision‑making

needed in complex political circumstances”.18

38. The SDR stated that a range of advanced systems were planned or already

entering service, including the airborne ground surveillance radar, Astor and a battlefield

unmanned target acquisition vehicle, Phoenix.

39. In July 2002, the MOD published The Strategic Defence Review: A New Chapter –

an update on the SDR’s progress and a consideration of the “UK’s defence posture and

plans” in light of the 9/11 attacks.19

16 Ministry of Defence, The Strategic Defence Review, July 1998.

17 Public Services for the Future: Modernisation, Reform, Accountability, December 1998, Cm 4181.

18 Ministry of Defence, The Strategic Defence Review, July 1998.

19 Ministry of Defence, The Strategic Defence Review: A New Chapter, July 2002.

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