The sea sprite decision is totally a political one..
talking to a few people in 805 today, the Sprites have been airworthy for 5 yrs! and the 30 yr old airframe business is just an excuse thought up by the beaurocracy (govt) Just look a the Hercules! Orions, Sea Kings, even the F18 is 20 yrs old!
the decision to ground the aircraft was from the darkness of the beaurocrats in Canberra, whee they get their advice from who knows, DMO?
Kayman have been suffering the same old Navy contract system as every other contractor faces, the navy will not settle on tight contracts, and constantly change contracts to suit themselves and make the job of the contractor as difficult as they can, i know, i have been working in the system now for 12 months! and in that time, our contracts has been changed 2 times. and continually amended, the Navy just wont come to the table to agree to a solid long term contract. where this comes from i dont know, but this is what has been causing the majority of the delays for kayman.
its like being told to start work building a house, then told to not pour a slab, then get half way through, and told to move the slab, then not put up walls, then the walls are changed, etc etc etc. so of course, the delays quickly blow out to years!
eg, the latest update to our contract stipulates that every qualified tradesperson has to be directly supervised, and now the supervisor has to be directly supervised by an independent inspector, so for a simple 1 person job, there are 2 supervisors...remember, all this supervision is for a certified and fully qualified tradesperson!!!... im sure you can all imagine the cost changes and delays caused by this alone when it comes to getting work out the door!
so why have we wasted Millions?? ask Canberra! and good luck with that..