Blue Light Air Assets: A Swedish Helicopter Perspective By Markus Planmo Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions
About me Former: Political Adviser, Ministry of Defence Primary Secretary, Inquiry on Helicopters Currently: Adviser, Emergency Preparedness, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) Secretary, SALAR HEMS Project
About Sweden 9,5 million people 528 447 km² 21 regions
Outline About the Inquiry on Helicopters The different systems Armed Forces Helicopter Wing Search & Rescue HEMS & Fixed-wing Air Ambulances Police Helicopter Service Coordination of operations Conclusions
About the Inquiry on Helicopters An independent inquiry ordered by the Ministry of Defence (2007-2008) Headed by former Minister for Defence, Ms. Leni Björklund Covered public sector use of helicopters Including dispatch, infrastructure, Nordic cooperation, etc. Main focus was blue light air assets Mainly helicopters, but also some fixed-wing 650 page report (in Swedish) A few people have actually read it SOU 2008:129 Helikoptern i samhällets tjänst www.regeringen.se/sb/d/10636/a/117611
Armed Forces Helicopter Wing
Armed Forces Helicopter Wing History Had over 100 helicopters Had many bases Did SAR, HEMS and forest fires Now Military focus national and international operations Military SAR is outsourced to Swedish Maritime Administration Readiness: mainly office hours Type Numbers NH 90 18* AS 332 9 AW 109 20 UH-60M 15* * Being delivered
Search & Rescuce
Search & Rescue Background Responsibility for Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) Used to be operated by armed forces Outsourced in steps 2002-2007 Insourced November 2011 Mission Aeronautical and maritime SAR Military SAR (not CSAR) Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG) Some inter-agency support Resources 5 bases with Sikorsky 76C+ 15 minutes readiness, 24/7 One crew/base/week (few missions) 2 pilot system
Search & Rescue Issues found by Inquiry Could be used for more tasks Negative economic incentives hampered other actors use of the system Outsourced service had better readiness and faster helicopters, but less resilience compared to when armed forces were operator Change of commercial operator could lead to temporary dip in capability
Search & Rescue What happened then? SMA planned to bring operation in-house in steps, in order to secure SAR-services Operator had economic problems Hard for operator to get finance for helicopters No working market Economic crisis for operator in 2011 made government buy the operator Procurement of new helicopter system under way
HEMS & Fixed-wing Air Ambulances
HEMS Background Used to be government responsibility Regional responsibility since 1991 Tax funded No national ambition set HEMS today 7 regions have HEMS 1 region plans to start new base Commercial operators Primary and secondary missions (transfers) Large differences between bases (mission, readiness, crew, airframe) Östersund Göteborg Gällivare Lycksele Uppsala Stockholm Visby
HEMS 2010 statistics Base Type IFR NVIS 2 pilots Physician Nurse Hours Primary missions Gällivare AS 365 N3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 958 28 % Lycksele AS 365 N2 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 804 55 % Östersund AS 365 N2 No Yes No No* Yes 882 88 % Uppsala AS 365 N3 Yes No Yes Yes Yes 924 32 % Stockholm EC 135 No Yes No No* Yes 1 410** 98 % Visby EC 145 Yes No No No* Yes 593 20 % Göteborg S 76 C+ Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 932 88 % * Can be brought on if needed ** Extra summer helicopter included
HEMS Issues found (Inquiry and SALAR) Few bases poor access to service in many areas Not one system but seven different systems High costs due to different configurations Market dominated by one operator Regions procuring HEMS-service one by one is not optimal
Fixed-wing Air Ambulances Background Contract in the north Spot-market in the south Total about 4 000 hours Issues found by Inquiry No national contract No national coordination centre No national system for retrieval teams
Inquiry proposal (also SALAR): A national air ambulance system
Preliminary tasks for a national system Provide flight service for HEMS and fixed wing Procure and maintain medical equipment Plan airborne transfers Establish national quality systems, SOP, etc Plan for medical disasters Advise regions on helipads Cooperate with government agencies About Swedish National Air Medevac (SNAM), SAR, defence, etc. Cooperate with Norway, Finland and Denmark
Police Helicopter Service
Police Helicopter Service Police organisation 21 regional agencies National police board Resources 6 EC 135 1 pilot system IFR/NVIS/FLIR 1 helicopter with winch Main missions Major crimes Special events SAR (mountain and ground) Inter-agency support ( )
Police Helicopter Service Issues found by Inquiry Too many tasks? Could be used more systematically by police Not enough staff / too high ambition Regulation and oversight Base security No transport capability for Counter Terrorist Unit Legal problems to use armed forces helicopters
Police Helicopter Service What happened then Service reorganised New regulation and oversight Increased staff New helicopter is being procured for Malmö base Increased cooperation with SMA about SAR-missions Base security is being improved
Coordination of operations
Coordination of operations Dispatch centres SOS Alarm - 112, ambulance, fire service (17 centres) JRCC SAR (1 centre) Police (mainly from 1 centre) Issues found by Inquiry Some cooperation issues between centres No common operating picture Need to train dispatchers and first responders Strengthen JRCC:s role (like in Norway) What happened then? No actions taken New operator for ambulance dispatch (4 regions)
Some remarks The different helicopter systems have developed by events rather than by strategic decision making In-sourcing of SAR and SALAR HEMS Project are exceptions Strong individuals have had a large influence on the development of the systems
Conclusions of the Inquiry Consolidate systems, rather than merging them Increase cooperation between systems Develop joint functions Coordination of operations Training and exercises Infrastructure Introduce: Public Sector Aviation Council (for strategic policy)
Thank you for your time! Contact details: Markus Planmo markus.planmo@skl.se +46 8 452 79 65