PETER LA FRANCHI / WELLINGTON
Replacements for Iroquois and Sioux training machines to be considered, with the latter to have expanded role
The New Zealand government is to consider proposals in early December for replacement of the Royal New Zealand Air Force's (RNZAF) Bell UH-1H Iroquois utility and Sioux training helicopters.
The options package includes proposals for the expansion of the training role to include light utility functions as part of plans to expand the operational roles of the new helicopter fleet.
Grp Capt Craig Inch, director of New Zealand Defence Force capability development, says the replacement is looming as a "major programme for us in terms of money and also the level of enhanced capability that it is going to deliver".
Speaking at the New Zealand Defence Industry Association seminar in Wellington on 11-12 November, Inch said that the UH-1H replacement "will have an expected service life of at least 30 years, and it is important that it meets today's requirements and those of the immediate future, but also has the capacity to cater for longer-term requirements".
According to Inch, the RNZAF is seeking to expand the use of the Sioux replacement into a light utility role, taking on some functions performed by the UH-1Hs.
"We are still considering some of those fleet mix options that may or may not provide a better balance between the two aircraft.
"Next month we will give them a bit of an outline as to where we think the capability requirement is and what some of those options might be," he said.
The RNZAF is seeking to augment the Project Guardian Lockheed Martin P-3K and Project Pegasus Lockheed Martin C-130H upgrade programmes with a parallel electronic warfare self-protection (EWSP)upgrade.
Inch says the air force wants to undertake the upgrade in parallel to the other modifications to maximise aircraft operational availability. The EWSP programme is mainly focused on defeating shoulder-launched infrared-guided missile threats, with final approvals for an acquisition to be made next year.
The Pegasus and Guardian programmes are at the tender evaluation stage, with a source selection due early next year.
EADS Casa, L-3 Communications Integrated Systems and Lockheed Martin Tactical Defence Systems are competing for the Guardian programme, while Boeing, Marshall Aerospace, Singapore Technologies Aerospace and rival bids by L-3 Integrated Systems and L-3 Spar Aerospace have been shortlisted for the Project Pegasus C130H upgrade.
Source: Flight International
