Troops need 'extra medical chopper'

The lives of Australian troops in Afghanistan are being put at risk by a shortage of medical helicopters, says a contractor who helps manage the airfield where the troops are based.

Former Australian army officer John Roberts, now a contractor at Tarin Kowt where Australian troops are stationed, has written to Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon warning that more troops may die without an extra medical evacuation helicopter, News Ltd reports.

His warning comes after three wounded soldiers waited six hours on the battlefield this week before being taken to hospital.

Last month the helicopter rescue of fatally-wounded SAS signaller Sean McCarthy should have taken 20 minutes but took two hours.

"I have seen on a number of occasions since SIG McCarthy's death, the failure, due to mechanical problems, of the lone Aero-Medical Evacuation (AME) capability, then witnessed the unacceptable amount of time it takes to get AME support from Kandahar airfield," Mr Roberts' letter reads.

"The minimum safe level of AME capability required at Tarin Kowt is two dedicated helicopters, anything less is unnecessarily exposing our soldiers to the same or greater delay, which did SIG McCarthy no favours."

In his letter, Mr Roberts says he saw injured Australian troops being unloaded from a helicopter on Monday at least five hours after they were injured.

"Would you be happy with that delay if it were your son?" he wrote.

Australian troops in Afghanistan rely on NATO helicopter support for medivac operations, but only one AME helicopter is based at Tarin Kowt.

If this is not available, a replacement has to fly from Kandahar.

Mr Fitzgibbon said this week that Australian troops were "stuck" with relying on American and Dutch medivac helicopters for the immediate future.