The Westland WS-70 Wyvern is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Westland Helicopters. It entered service in the late 1970s.
The Westland WS-70 Wyvern was designed to meet the RAF and RN's need to replace Westland WS-58 Wessex and Westland WS-59 Wiltshire, it has 2 different variants, the early models which due to lack of powerful engines used as an interim, the 1,660shp Rolls-Royce H.1400-2 Gnome turboshaft engine.
The Westland WS-70 Wyvern in the 1980s was upgraded with new avionics and redesign to fit new 2100 shp Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM322-01 turboshaft engines.
In the 1990s, the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy would mate the systems form the AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin to the Westland WS-70 Wyvern's airframe to create the Sea Wyvern which alongside the Merlin would replace the Westland WS-61 Commando.
Variants[]
- WS-70A-1: Desert Hawk; variant for Arabian military
- WS-70A-1L: Arabia Desert Hawk Medevac variant
- WS-70A-5: Variant for Philippine Air Force
- WS-70A-9: Variant for Australian Army, licence-built by de Havilland Australia
- WS-70A-11: Variant for Jordanian Air Force
- WS-70A-12: Search and rescue variant for the Republic of Japan Air Force (RoJAF) and Republic of Japan Navy (RoJN).
- WS-70A-14: Variant for Royal Brunei Air Force; one in civil use by the Government of Brunei
- WS-70A-16: Test model fitted with Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines
- WS-70A-17: Variant for Turkish military
- WS-70A-21: Variant for Egyptian military
- WS-70A-26: Variant for Moroccan military
- WS-70A-27: Variant for Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force
- WS-70A-33: Variant for Brunei, used as civil transport by the government
- WS-70A-42: Variant for Austrian Armed Forces
1st Generation[]
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HC.1: transport variant built for the Royal Air Force and South African Army
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HAR.1: Search and Rescue variant built for the Royal Air Force
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HCC.1: VIP transport variant built for the Royal Air Force
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern E.1: Electronic Warfare variant built for the British Army
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HC.11: transport variant built for the Australian Army
2nd generation[]
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HC.2: transport variant built for the RAF and South African Army
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HAR.2: Search and Rescue variant built for the RAF
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HCC.2: VIP transport variant built for the RAF
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern E.2: Electronic Warfare variant built for the British Army
- Westland WS-70 Sea Wyvern HAS.3: Anti-Submarine Warfare variant built for Royal Navy
- Westland WS-70 Sea Wyvern HCC.4: VIP transport variant built for the No.32 Sqn Royal Flight
- Westland WS-70 Wyvern HC.21: transport variant built for the Australian Army
- Westland WS-70 Sea Wyvern HAS.21: Anti-Submarine Warfare variant built for Royal Australian Navy