Innovative Students Tackle Helicopter Corrosion for Royal Navy

Corrosion is a hot topic across the Royal Navy’s Merlin MK2 helicopter fleet and has been the top reason for major aircraft unserviceability, an issue that is not helped by the coastal location of the fleet, based at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Culdrose.  The MK2 fleet’s time in service was recently extended up to 2040, but with the rate of decay caused by corrosion it is unlikely that the current fleet will last. This was the basis of the problem provided to a team of six postgraduate students at the Dept of War Studies, King’s College London, in their ‘Hacking for Ministry of Defence’ (H4MoD) course.

H4MoD courses are designed to equip university students to tackle real-world security and defence issues and to create ecosystems of entrepreneurs ready to solve the complex challenges facing the UK Government. At the core of the course is Lean Start-up methodology, the foundation of which is the belief that students will not learn about real-world problems by sitting in a classroom and reading articles. Rather, students need to ‘get out of the building’ and talk to the people who actually experience the problem.  

And this is exactly what the student team did. Over the 10 week module the team talked to >50 people, even visiting RNAS Culdrose, where the fleet is located. Team members talked about the importance of this:

“Going to Culdrose changed our whole perspective on our problem. Being there and seeing all the existing problems and parallel issues made a huge difference in developing our solution ideas.” said Riccardo Grassi. Hannah Aries agreed, noting; “Everything we thought about the problem changed. We realised that you can talk all you want about a problem, but you don’t understand it unless you actually experience it for yourself.”

The basis of this changed perspective was their realisation that the problem was a cultural one, rather than an environmental one. This led to the development of their solution idea; a low-cost, three-pronged strategy focusing on communication practices, training options, and corrosion-preventative measures. 

CPO Ashley Spinks, their MoD sponsor, commended the team for their fresh perspective and focus on validating the problem.

One of the most valuable aspects of the course for university students is the development and practice of core transferable skills.

“The course gave me a huge amount of workplace confidence - everything from managing teamwork and logistics to being able to speak to professional people at all levels of an organisation” said Riccardo. Alex Haywood also noted; “I loved the idea of a challenge, and now I feel like I can go into a job interview with a real achievement to talk about”

Team Airframe Corrosion's H4MoD experience showcases the power of innovative education in validating and solving real-world problems. We’re proud to continue to demonstrate the potential of mission-driven education to inspire the next generation of problem-solvers and create lasting, positive impacts on the defence sector.

Read more stories from our students and stakeholders over on our blog.