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'Skyhawks sale gets a step closer
The Air Force's white elephants, the A4 Skyhawks, are one step closer to finally being sold, seven years after they were grounded.
Defence Minister Phil Goff has confirmed to 3 News the US government has given him an assurance to fast track a possible sale, which could come in the next two months.
Since being grounded in 2001 the A4 Skyhawks have proved to be more a nightmare for the Air Force than the pride they once were, costing $300,000 a month to maintain.
The Government has tried to sell them for nine years, only to be blocked every time by the US State Department. But Defence Minister Phil Goff says they are now wanting to help.
“I have now had an assurance from the Department of Defence and the Department of State that once the tender has been issued, to one of the two bidders for our planes, they will fast track the process,” says Goff.
Goff has confirmed to 3 News the sale price is US$110 million dollars for the 17 Skyhawk jets and a fleet of training Aermacchis.
A contract has yet to be awarded by the US, but Goff is confident that should be in the next two months, and a cheque written finally by the end of the year.
“I'll only breathe a sigh of relief when I receive the cheque but so far the assurance given to me by the American government is very welcome,” says Goff.
The assurance came from a high level US official who visited Wellington last week, and it comes less than a month after the visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The Skyhawks have been sitting outside at the Woodbourne Airbase for almost a year, covered by a hundred thousand dollar latex coating that ACT MP Heather Roy says is failing.
“Water is seeping in between the layers of the latex. It's pooling the so called maintenance is somebody going around after rain with a pin or sharp object piercing the latex covering so that the water drains out and that’s it,” Roy says.
Safe Air, the company that maintains the Skyhawks, would not comment today. The Air Force though says the weather damage was expected but that the important parts of the aircraft are well kept. The Government says their current condition should not hinder any possible future sale.'
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