rjsquirrel commented about the cannibalization of the Merlin. I must have missed this story at the time.
RAF strips new £34m helicopters for spares
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 09/04/2004)
The RAF has been forced to cannibalise two of its fleet of Merlin transport helicopters, each costing £34 million, to keep the only two on operations flying. The helicopters being used for spares are in a hangar at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire. The operational Merlins are based in Bosnia, defence sources said.
The problems with Merlin spares come in the week that a National Audit Office report complained there were not enough transport helicopters to ferry troops into operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. The reason for the lack of Merlin spares is that when the MoD embarked on the Merlin programme in the early 1990s, it decided to cut costs by not buying any spare parts, the sources said.
The RAF has only 18 operational Merlin helicopters
That decision was taken at the same time as the MoD procured eight SAS helicopters, which have never been used because they do not meet defence safety standards. The late Alan Clark was defence procurement minister at the time.
The Merlins have now been stopped from "inessential flying" by an accident last week in which a Royal Navy Merlin crashed. The crash is believed to be the result of a recurring problem with the half hub on the tail rotor, which keeps cracking.
Without spares both services have no way of keeping aircraft in the air. Both services and Westland, which produces the helicopter, are now pinning their hopes on it winning the prestigious American "VX programme" involving 500 helicopters. Twenty of the aircraft will be used to fly the US president and his entourage around. The Merlin is in competition with the Sikorski S92.
Tony Blair is expected to push the qualities of the Merlin next week when he meets President George W Bush at the White House. One source said: "In the meantime, the entire RAF Merlin programme is sublimated to supporting UK Plc in the US presidential helicopter programme.
"If Westland win it, then we will be able to reopen a line of spares that will be much cheaper. If we don't, then a whole load more Merlins are likely to be Christmas treed." "Christmas treed" is RAF jargon for the removal of various parts from a cannibalised aircraft in the same way that decorations are removed from a Christmas tree once the festive season is over.
The shortage of helicopter lifting capability was identified four years ago by an MoD study. But "work streams" that have been urgently identifying ways of saving more than £1 billion from the defence budget have recommended scrapping the RAF's Puma helicopters and the Royal Navy's Sea Kings, which make up the bulk of the helicopter transport fleet.
The RAF has 22 Merlin transport helicopters, of which 18 are operational and based at 28 Squadron in Benson. The Merlin is highly regarded by those who have flown it. They say it is an excellent aircraft. But the problem with the tail rotors combined with the lack of spares leaves it struggling to prove its worth.
The RAF Mk 3 variant is better regarded than the Royal Navy anti-submarine warfare Merlin Mk 1 which was originally costed at £3.6 billion for 44 aircraft, effectively £82 million per aircraft.
But it was five years late in entering service and then it was discovered that it could not use its sonar at night or in low visibility when the pilot was flying on instruments alone. The eventual cost of the programme was £4.65 billion, making the individual cost of each aircraft £106 million.