There are at least three creditable players in the RAAF SAR Contract, all with sufficient resources to invest the necessary capital.
If you are close to this industry, they are all very identifiable.
And the crews??? they will desert CHC, as did they desert the NSCA when they crashed, so there is no great shortage of skill levels.
In any case the new aircraft manufactures all have nice simulators to train new crews onto their new machines, so there is no protection in anyone thinking that existing crews are weighted against the $$$ of any contract.
I have heard this around the traps, and when you think about it, it makes one think.
What do RAAF SAR aircraft do?. Considering that its been years, maybe 10??? since someone actually actively "saved" an ejected RAAF pilot. Great, at around AUS$10,000,000 / year thats some service.
The comment about the Army guys was tongue in cheek, however the Civil SAR Guys could be called to any [one every 10 years] RAAF emergency, just like the Civil SAR/EMS respond to every other Australian Emergency.
Sooner or later some polly has to ask that question.
By the way, one of those three contenders [maybe more than three] is an Australian Company.