Matthew,
The point was the irony of the DND considering something as complex as a rebuild of one or more VH-71s to CH-149 specs, at the same time as attempting to fix a procurement system "burdened with inefficiencies and unnecessary delays and costs." The DN article only listed a few of the recent program SNAFUs, others including the Victoria-class SSKs and the Joint Support Ship Project.
Personally I doubt that the VH-71-to-CH-149 conversion idea will progress: aside from the fact that the aircraft were acquired for the very real need to address the CH-149's
low (<50%) operational availability, I doubt that any of the airframes are in much of a state to be rebuilt, given that IMP has been
cannibalizing them
for over two years.
The "We can rebuild them...we have the technology!" idea has actually been
floated since the assets were originally acquired, but the lack of any airworthiness cert is likely to prove a major obstacle. The DND has already come under fire for the
existing compatibility issues regarding the multi-variant Leopard 2 MBT force, so its appetite for opening a similar Pandora's box with the VH-71s may be limited.
I/C