Unfortunately for all of us, wherever we live, these procurement failures are the rule, not the exception. When you strip this whole chain of events down, at the base level, procurement failures are what lead to this whole discussion we are having now. The plug probably should have been pulled on this program on multiple occasions over the years, but the tendency of government is to keep on throwing cash on the fire instead of cutting losses early.
Why that happens will be investigated (not by the governments that failed in the process, of course) for many years to come. Our governments/militaries propensity to screw up are manifest, I’m sure everyone here has a personal experience of that.
I know that doesn’t help the taxpayer who is trying to square with their govt stripping down aircraft for parts when another one could (potentially) benefit from them.
The fact is, other allied(very important) governments will benefit from this situation, allies that need spares the oem can’t supply in a timely fashion perhaps, or items out of production. And this is important, because, let’s face it: we simply don’t have an “Arsenal of Democracy” in back of most front line combat systems at the moment in the west, or for war material in general for that matter.
Why that is will likely also be studied for many years, especially if all the regional conflicts currently ongoing merge into something more global in scale. It will take time and will to build(rebuild?) the industrial base that has either atrophied, or completely disappeared over the years in our countries, due to off shoring certain capabilities, or not investing in them as a matter of national security.
The last anecdote from Blackhawk9, regarding the Cpl stating that he now sees a future for himself in Australian service due to some of these changes is also of great importance, especially given the current climate of recruiting and retention issues in military service.
I think history will show the last decision made by Australia re: NH90 was the best thing for Australia and their allies, it won’t be so kind to the process that ultimately lead it to that decision. Hopefully lessons learned will have informed the process of procuring their shiny new fleet of AH-64E and UH-60M. Time will tell.
FltMech