Just saw on the news that the Navy's Super Sea Sprites have been grounded.
From news.com.au: 16 May 2006:
THE Howard Government is set to abandon $1 billion worth of new navy helicopters and to sue the American supplier for damages.
The navy was buying 11 Super Seasprite helicopters from Kaman Aerospace to deploy on to its eight Anzac frigates, but the machines are unable to fly.
More than $980 million of the Budget has already been spent, nine machines have been delivered and the overall project for the anti-ship/anti-submarine choppers is running almost six years late.
It would cost up to $200 million to fix them and morale in the chopper squadron has hit rock bottom.
The helicopters, based with 805 Squadron at HMAS Albatross at Nowra in NSW, were grounded on March 29 and Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has declared "enough is enough".
"I have asked the Department of Defence to consider all options including, if appropriate, legal action against the contractors who have not fulfilled their obligations to Australia and to Australian taxpayers," Dr Nelson said.
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"We have had delays and essentially as far as I am concerned the software failures we faced in late March have been the straw that's broken the camel's back."
Dr Nelson has vowed to resist "throwing good money after bad" on defence projects that he believes are wasting taxpayer funds.
He is taking a very close look at other projects including those to provide new army helicopters, upgraded armoured personnel carriers, navy frigate upgrades and the modernisation of the F/A-18 Hornet fighter fleet.
There are also major concerns over the delivery schedule for new US-supplied M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks for the army.
The Minister has drawn a line in the sand on the Seasprite debacle and defence chiefs were ordered to go to Nowra last week to assess the project.
They will report to Dr Nelson later this week and he will then take a proposal to Cabinet's National Security Committee.
Apart from 1950s vintage airframes, the Seasprites have had huge software-integration problems.
The latest computer glitch directly affected flight safety.
The last of the navy's six Anzac ships will be delivered next month and a decision will be needed by then to equip them with a different helicopter.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said Seasprites were operating successfully in New Zealand. "The Kiwis can get the Seasprite right, but we can't and that seems to be the theme of the bungling character of this Howard Government," he said.
On another note, I also heard cracks have been found in the airframe. Something which was not mentioned in the report.
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