The newsies have picked up this story about the MH/MRH-90 family of helicopters.(Defence’s new choppers are duds: report) It is a pretty sensitive subject here in Australia after the over $1 billion lost to the Seasprite debacle.
The Australian Defence Force said yesterday it could not respond to questions about the German report until tomorrow.
Officials from the German Defence Ministry said they had informed Eurocopter about the deficiencies and asked the company to correct them, UPI.com reported yesterday from Berlin.
Problems with the helicopters will cause alarm in the ADF and the government following the sorry saga of the Super Seasprite program. More than $1 billion was wasted on 11 Seasprite helicopters for the Royal Australian Navy that were never accepted for operational service.
The Howard government chose the MRH-90s, which are called NH90s in Europe, despite a long history of technical problems, including the navigation system and radar.
Its price tripled from initial estimates and delayed planning dates back to the 1980s.
Four of the helicopters bought by Australia have already been manufactured in Europe and two were delivered to Brisbane in December.
And, more on how Australian Navy helicopter requirements will get procured.
Oh no, here we go. Ammunition for the “Australia must always buy American” crowd and the Blackhawk fetishists out there. Reading through the article, these problems look like teething issues, and relate to problems with things that the Blackhawk doesn’t have – like a rear ramp for example. As to not being able to carry a stinger – I’m curious as to why, sounds like BS to me. My contacts on the inside tell me that the only issues with the MRH90 project are contractual with Australian Aerospace. The airframe itself so far is meeting or exceeding expectations.
Same stable as the Tiger which is a dog and the Germans reputedly also sent a bundle of those back to the manufacturer. Why would anybody in their right mind pay a unit cost around $45million for either when the Huey II Iroquois leaves both Tiger and MRH-90 for dead on hot and high performance and in multi-role versatility. Cost of a ‘new’ Huey II; about $US2million depending on options required.
The introduction in Holland of the NH90 is a Drama.
Old Lynx helicopters for the Navy getting an life extension program. Doubts remain if the Dutch NH-90 ever will be operationel in the role it was ordered for. The lesson of al of this is clear dont buy stuff that isnt fully tested.
And yeah there were and are plenty of fully tested alternatives available. For way less money.
Like with the F-35 program people been warning for years.
Vince
Pingback: Problem confirmed with Australia’s MRH-90 helicopter | ELP Defens(c)e Blog