Huey Future Guaranteed....
Nope, perhaps the rumours of the huey's imminent passing are greatly exaggerated after all because the army will have to resurrect the gunship capability if this is anything to go by. What a fantastic state of affairs.
Defence pays for toothless Tigers
Ross Peake
Wednesday, 3 May 2006
The Defence Department has quietly sidestepped contracts to allow it to accept a new breed of helicopter with numerous faults.
The secret deal was revealed yesterday in a damning report by the Auditor-General which said a Defence test pilot recommended the French-built Tiger helicopter not be accepted from the manufacturer on safety grounds.
In an extraordinary development, Defence said it knew the aircraft had about 70 defects, including being under-powered, but paid the full price.
The first test aircraft had to be temporarily grounded and has now been sent back to the workshop for a nine-month refit.
The Tiger has major problems with its electronics systems which means it cannot yet operate at night or in bad weather in Australian civil aviation airspace.
The helicopter's engine does not deliver enough power to carry the four Hellfire missiles specified by Defence.
The bungle occurred when the contractor assumed Australia would use a lighter version of the missiles, the report reveals.
The cost of replacing the engines will be at least $110 million.
The $1.5billion purchase of the 22 armed reconnaissance helicopters is Defence's largest spending project this financial year. The heavily armed aircraft provides aerial reconnaissance and fire support to ground troops.
It carries two crewmen, has extremely accurate nose cannon and can fire rockets and the Hellfire missiles.
The first four aircraft were delivered from France; the rest are being manufactured in France and assembled in Brisbane.
The first Australian-assembled Tiger was delivered amid much fanfare last July.
However, it could not be flown for three weeks because its computer software had not been approved for use.
The Defence Materiel Organisation comes in for sustained criticism in the report.
The purchase of the aircraft was based on the notion they were "off the shelf" working models, representing a low risk to Defence of cost overruns or technical glitches.
However, Australia appears to have been the first customer for the high-tech machine. The French Government accepted its first production aircraft in March last year, four months after Defence, the report says.
The original cost estimates were "immature" and exposed Defence to significant future budgetary risks.
The 105-page report from the Australian National Audit Office shows bungles at every stage of the project.
The DMO shortened the tender evaluation process for the complex project from six months to six weeks, and did not write a report to summarise and record the evaluation process.
Defence accepted the first two of the four French-built aircraft using a "draft procedure", the report says.
"These aircraft were accepted from the contractor on schedule in December 2004 with known technical, operational and managed airworthiness limitations," the report says.
"The ANAO was informed that it is the DMO's practice to accept deliverables with contractual shortfalls and operational limitations, on a risk managed basis, to progress Defence specific training and testing activities, to deliver the required operational capability."
A Defence test pilot and flight engineer who flew the first aircraft off the Brisbane assembly line said it should be rejected.
"The Defence test team stated ... a number of issues would directly affect safe and efficient operation of the aircraft, especially in the training environment," the report says.
The choppers were not safe for long flights over water and did not have sufficient crash resistance.
"However, the DMO did not withhold part-payment from the corresponding milestone payments for production acceptance, even though the acquisition contract allows for this arrangement," the report says.
The Auditor-General discovered that DMO agreed with the contractor to a lower capability for the choppers but this was not formalised through agreed contract change proposals.
The contractor has found a way to make the engines deliver more power but this will use more fuel and reduce the aircraft's range.
The report makes five recommendations, calling on the DMO, when handling further projects, to prepare a formal report of the tender evaluation board, to complete the required testing activities and to write into contract documentation unambiguous specifications.
Defence had agreed to all five recommendations and had begun implementing them, a Defence spokesman said last night.
The first four choppers assembled in France and the first assembled in Brisbane had been accepted by Defence, he said. Defence expects to accept the second locally assembly aircraft in June.