Grounded helicopters facing axe

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19136512-601,00.html

Grounded helicopters facing axe
Patrick Walters
May 15, 2006
THE navy’s trouble-plagued Super Seasprite helicopter fleet has been grounded and the $1 billion program is at risk of being scrapped amid concerns the aircraft is unsafe to fly.

Nearly six years after they were due to enter service, the Seasprites — a vital anti-submarine and anti-shipping aircraft for the Navy’s Anzac-class frigates — have been banned indefinitely from operational flying.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has ordered a review of the project, with options ranging from scrapping the Seasprite and buying an alternative helicopter to persisting with its development.

Dr Nelson told The Australian last night that it was time to look at what was involved in “getting out of the program”.

Navy chief Vice-Admiral Russ Shalders and air force chief Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd flew to the navy’s aviation base at Nowra, on the NSW south coast, on Friday as part of a high-level review of the program due to be presented to Dr Nelson this week.

They were accompanied by the Defence Department’s chief of capability development, Lieutenant General David Hurley, and the head of the Defence Materiel Organisation, Stephen Gumley.

Dr Nelson said that after receiving the report he would take a recommendation on the Seasprite’s future to cabinet’s national security committee.

If the aircraft was scrapped as a ship-borne war-fighting machine, the Government could turn to the US Seahawk helicopter or the European NH-90, at a replacement cost of more than $1 billion.

Dr Nelson told The Australian last night that software problems associated with the Seasprite’s electronic equipment had affected flight safety.

“You could not have 100 per cent confidence in the software program that supports the pilot flying the helicopter to 100 per cent safety,” he said. “It has required the chief of naval aviation to have it grounded.”

Dr Nelson said it was unlikely the aircraft would resume flying, other than for test-pilot evaluations, before the end of the year.

Defence has estimated it would cost a further $100million to $200 million and take another two years to make the planned 11-strong fleet operational and fully equipped for maritime warfare.

Ten of the contracted aircraft have been delivered to the navy’s HMAS Albatross base at Nowra but none has been accepted into full operational service. A senior Defence source said last night that the cheapest solution was to finish the Seasprite program.

“The choice is between spending an extra $100 million to $150 million or paying up to $1.5 billion for a new capability which won’t be delivered for three or four years,” the source said. About $950 million has been spent on the project so far.

Nearly a decade after the contract was signed with US firm Kaman Aerospace, in 1997, the Seasprite project has been dogged by software problems and the failure of earlier sub-contractors to provide the aircraft’s sophisticated avionics package.

Dr Nelson said he believed problems with the Seasprite were having a “significant and detrimental effect” on morale at Nowra, particularly in the wake of the 2004 Sea King crash, which killed nine military personnel and led to the temporary grounding of the Sea King fleet.

The Seasprites are regarded as the most troublesome of Defence’s so-called “legacy projects”, which started before the Howard Government took office and have run years late and failed to meet original specifications.

The grounding of the Seasprites is a particular blow for the navy’s 805 squadron, which has been working to train aircrew and ready the aircraft for service on the Anzac frigates. Defence sources say the squadron will now almost certainly have to be downsized.