PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA
Sikorsky proposes global component work as part of bid for defence force's helicopter rationalisation programme
Sikorsky is proposing manufacture and assembly of major UH-60M Black Hawk airframe components in Australia for the global market as the industrial centrepiece of its bid for the Australian Defence Force's Project Air 9000 military helicopter rationalisation project.
The programme would include the cockpit fuselage section, tail booms, tail fin and rear stabilator.
Boeing subsidiary Hawker de Havilland Australia is understood to be the preferred supplier, although Sikorsky Australia general manager Graeme Breen says that final decisions require additional evaluation of local firms. Sikorsky says the work package is worth around A$500 million ($370 million) if it wins all phases of the Air 9000 requirement.
The Air 9000 programme is aimed at rationalising the Australian Army and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) rotary-wing aircraft fleets from nine to four or five individual types, or fewer, over 30 years. The total value of the project is estimated to be worth A$5 billion if all phases are implemented by a single contractor.
The initial requirement, designated Phase 2, calls for the supply of additional troop-lift helicopters for the army and proposals for the upgrade or replacement of the 36 aircraft in the army S-70A-9 Black Hawk fleet. Sikorsky is competing for the requirement against Australian Aerospace, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS and Eurocopter.
Sikorsky says the airframe package would also include Australian manufacture of minor electrical and mechanical components for UH- 60Ms worldwide, with those items to be competitively tendered within the Australian domestic market.
The Sikorsky bid proposes supply of 12 new-build UH-60Ms for Air 9000 Phase 1 and Australian remanufacture of the S-70A-9 fleet to UH-60M standard for Phase 4 through a new facility co-located with the army's helicopter base at Townsville, northern Queensland.
A UH-60M software support facility would be established at Nowra in southern New South Wales by CSC Australia to support the phase two and four aircraft. That facility would also support the proposed Air 9000 Phase 3 upgrade of the RAN's existing S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopters. CSC already operates a software support centre at Nowra for the RAN's Kaman SH-2G(A) Super Seasprite helicopters.
Source: Flight International
