PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA
Delay blamed on problems in securing US approval for integration with French systems
Australia is unlikely to field an operational Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire missile capability on its Eurocopter Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters before the end of 2005.
Defence minister Robert Hill says contract arrangements with Eurocopter require the delivery of the first production Australian Tiger in November 2004. While that aircraft is expected to be "fully representative of Australia's end configuration", Hellfire will not be qualified "until operational test and evaluation is conducted in late 2005", he says.
The delay is understood to be caused by ongoing problems in securing US State Department approval for the integration of the missile with a French-developed weapon system. German army Tiger UHTs, due for delivery in December, and French army Tiger HAPs, scheduled for first handover in July next year, will be armed with the MBDA Trigat LR and Euromissile HOT-3 missiles.
The Hellfire integration issue emerged in written responses to parliamentary opposition questions raised in September, but not answered until last week. The questions centred on why the government fast-tracked the armed reconnaissance helicopter programme rather than proceeding with a shortlist of two contenders.
Hill says while the competition had been expected to result in a shortlist of more than one bid, the evaluation "indicated that there was a stand-out tender which offered better value for money than the other three. In accordance with the conditions of the request for tenders, and to minimise the cost of tendering, Australia opted to shortlist a single tenderer."
Hill has also defended the Tiger's selection against criticisms that it will raise interoperability problems between the Australian army and allied nations. "The Tiger is based on NATO standards and axiomatically offers a high level of interoperability. But interoperability is also about training, support and maintenance, logistics, intelligence, doctrine and many other contributing elements. In this regard the Tiger will be fully integrated into the Australian Defence Force and will share the interoperability our forces currently share with our allies and other countries with whom we might want to operate in coalition," he says.
EADS' German missiles business LFK has delivered the first ATA firing post production units intended for the Tiger. The ATA firing post is compatible with the HOT and Trigat weapons.Source: Flight International
