Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

Contributor

Mark Huber

Londoners recently got their first look at a special-forces anti-terrorism squad nicknamed Blue Thunder. Members of the 70-member squad deployed from unmarked dark-blue Airbus Helicopters AS365N3 Dauphins onto London Bridge following the June 3 evening van-pedestrian terrorist attacks on the bridge and&nbsp;assaults in the Borough Market restaurant district by three jihadis that immediately followed and collectively killed eight and injured 48.&nbsp;The terrorists were gunned down by police.

 


The Blue Thunder unit is believed to have been dispatched from its base in Hereford. The helicopters are flown by members of the Army Air Corps and can each carry eight outfitted troops. When deployed, the Dauphins are supported by an Army Boeing AH-64&nbsp;Apache outfitted with advanced camera and other surveillance gear, as well as ground units. It is believed that several Dauphins are assigned to the unit and positioned at at least five locations throughout the UK. The helicopter can be dispatched at a moment's notice on orders from the British Home Secretary. The fenestron-equipped Dauphins were selected for the mission partly for their relatively lower noise signature and compact footprint. The unit is thought to have been established after the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 and injured 368.

 


The unit's Blue Thunder moniker was inspired by the 1983 American movie and 1984 follow-on television show that featured a highly reclad 1973 Aerospatiale Gazelle in a fictionalized account of a metropolitan police department's acquisition of an armed and technologically advanced military-style helicopter to be used to quell urban unrest.

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

Blue Thunder Fighting London Terror 

The unit was established in 2015.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Charlotte Bailey

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

Fire and disaster management agency to use aircraft in aerial reconnaissance role

Japan Orders Its First H160 for Emergency Response

Flights with two scaled technology demonstrators will inform potential future iterations 

Singaporean eVTOL Conducts Test Campaign In Germany 

Matt Thurber

New developments and products in avionics, specifically about aircraft electronics in the cockpit.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Lightweight white-phosphor NVG have a 94-degree field of view

FAA Approves TSO for ASU Panoramic Night-vision Goggles

Hanneke Weitering

Proposed rule addresses pilot awareness of control limits

FAA Floats Special Conditions for Skyryse Fly-by-wire R66

Charles Alcock

News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

European Helicopter Association and Vertical Aviation International extended their alliance 

Vertical Lift Groups Extend Trade Show Partnership

Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

More In Rotorcraft

Japan Orders Its First H160 for Emergency Response

Fire and disaster management agency to use aircraft in aerial reconnaissance role

Singaporean eVTOL Conducts Test Campaign In Germany

Flights with two scaled technology demonstrators will inform potential future iterations

FAA Approves TSO for ASU Panoramic Night-vision Goggles

Lightweight white-phosphor NVG have a 94-degree field of view

FAA Floats Special Conditions for Skyryse Fly-by-wire R66

Proposed rule addresses pilot awareness of control limits

Vertical Lift Groups Extend Trade Show Partnership

European Helicopter Association and Vertical Aviation International extended their alliance

Sikorsky Is Upgrading the Black Hawk Helicopter for Evolving Military Needs

Armed forces will be able to outfit Black Hawks with new armament and equipment.

Sikorsky’s S-97 Raider Points to a New Level of Performance for Future Helicopters

Originally developed for the U.S. military, X2 technology is in search of a new customer.

Bell 505 Makes Asia-Pacific Debut with Aichi Police

Joins fleet of longtime operator of Bell 206s and 412s

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN