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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 3673.PDF
DEFENCE CONTRACTS MARITIME HELICOPTERS BRIAN DUNN / MONTREAL Canada's MHP stalls due to government rethink Programme faces further two-year delay and new RFP is not expected until mid-2003 Canada's troubled Maritime Heli copter Programme (MHP) faces a further two-year delay after the Canadian government decided to award a single airframe and mis sion system contract, reversing an earlier decision to split the deal. A new request for proposals (RFP) is not expected to be released until mid-2003 at the earliest. Two years ago, Ottawa divided the C$2.9 billion ($1.9 billion) pro gramme into separate helicopter platform and mission system con tracts. Critics said this would com plicate the programme and make the winning offer more expensive. Canadian defence minister David Callum now admits a single bid will save about C$400 million. Ottawa says it split the contract to allow more companies to bid, but opposition politicians claim it was intended to delay the process to avoid embarrassing Prime Minister Jean Chretien before he leaves office in early 2004. The MHP has been mired in controversy since the 1993 cancellation of a C$5.8 billion order for 50 EH Industries EHlOls. The RFP for the airframe is al ready over a year late, but with a winning single tender not now expected to be decided before 2004, it will be at least 2007 before the first replacement machine for Canada's 40-year-old Sikorsky CH-124A Sea Kings will be delivered. The line-up of bidders remains the same and in many cases local teaming agree ments with system integrators have been in place since before 2000. Boeing and Bell are backing the EH 101, while Bombardier and General Dynamics Canada are teamed with Sikorsky on the S-92. Why ask your NH Industries is expected to decide between Agusta, the current NH90 Nato Frigate Helicopter system inte grator, and Saab, just selected by Norway. A requirement for 40% local content could open the door on the NH90 to Lockheed Martin Canada and Thales, say sources. • Spoof armed forces recruitment advertisements (below) have appeared on the internet. Dis affected defence officials are thought to be behind them. • Gulfstream has won a $59.2 mil lion contract to produce two G400s (formerly GIV-SPs) for Egypt's presi dential fleet under the Peace Lotus III programme. • General Atomics is to produce 10 MQ-1 Block 10 Predator unmanned air vehicles under a $28.8 million US Air Force contract. • The Dutch Prognostic Health Management Consortium, led by Perot Systems, has received an $8 million Lockheed Martin con tract to develop maintenance troubleshooting tools for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. • German army Sikorsky CH-53 crews are to train on a new electronic-warfare suite using a deployable simulation system supplied by CAE under a C$1.6 million ($1 million) contract. • AAR Composites is to produce the main-deck cargo barrier for the 767 Tanker Transport under a Boeing contract potentially worth $19 mil lion. • A Raytheon-led team is to develop the US Marine Corps' next- generation Common Aviation Command and Control System (CAC2S) under a $132 million con tract. • Sikorsky has teamed with Corpus Christi Army Depot in a public-private partnership to support H-60-series helicopters under a five- year, $275 million agreement designed to streamline spares deliv ery. • Gamesa is to build rotor blades for the Boeing AH-64 Apache as offset for an intended Spanish acquisition of the heli copter. • Lockheed Martin has received $22.9 million to continue pre-development work on a next- generation radar for the US Navy's Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye. MODERNISATION PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA New Zealand opens bidding for P-3K upgrade New Zealand is planning a fresh competition to upgrade the avionics and sensor suite of its six Lockheed Martin P-3K Orion maritime patrol aircraft. It also intends to replace its elderly fleet of Bell Model 47 Sioux and UH-1H helicopters. The tentatively designated Project Guardian will combine a mission system tender with a previ ously separate two-phase moderni sation of the P-3K's communica tions and navigation systems in an effort to cut costs. New Zealand defence minister Mark Burton expects the overall cost to exceed NZ$300 million ($150 million). Upgrading the mission suite alone is estimated to cost NZ$150- 220 million and will include a new radar, electro-optical surveillance suite, electronic support measures and mission management comput ers. Burton says the aircraft will continue to support a "modest" sonobuoy processing system for anti-submarine warfare, and a deci sion on the acquisition of anti- shipping missiles will be made later in the decade. The P-3s have already been structurally upgraded under Project Kestrel, but the follow-on Project Sirius avionics and sensor upgrade was shelved in 2000 after the win ning Raytheon bid was deemed too expensive. New bidders are expected to include Alenia, Boeing, EADS Casa, L-3 (formerly Ray theon), Lockheed Martin and Thales. The first upgraded aircraft will re-enter operational service in 2006 and the rest by 2008. Replacing the Bell 47 and UH-1H is expected to cost at least NZ$410 million. Recommendations on an interim Sioux replacement, either leased or purchased, will go to the New Zealand Cabinet early in 2003. Burton says no permanent decision on a new training machine can be made until a replacement for the UH-1 is found, with a competition expected in late 2003 or early 2004. Upgrading the 14 utility machines has been rejected as uneconomical. • The Royal New Zealand Air Force is to close Whenuapai air base near Auckland, leaving it with one opera tional base at Ohakea, near Palm- erston North, and a support facility at Woodbourne on the south island. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY PAUL LEWIS www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 17-30 DECEMBER 2002 17
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