UKSAR2G - MCA CivSAR Second Generation
Originally Posted by [email protected]
I suspect you will need to analyse the statistics to see just how often that very long range capability was needed since 2015 - perhaps you don't need so many big helos and could concentrate the smaller ones with better hover performance where they are needed.
The UK is not exactly awash with surplus cash and the cheapest bid that meets the requirement will win (obviously). Draken and Airbus will take some beating as Leonardo products cost more to buy and more to fly, and as for the S92....
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by [email protected]
I suspect you will need to analyse the statistics to see just how often that very long range capability was needed since 2015 - perhaps you don't need so many big helos and could concentrate the smaller ones with better hover performance where they are needed.
There has of course been a bit of that going on already. That's why there are two AW189 bases (and previously two AW139 bases) on the south coast near large numbers of coastal and near-coastal jobs and three S-92 bases in the northern and western extremities adjacent to large expanses of ocean within our SRR. However, the more diverse the nature of the fleet is made to address the different needs the more often the right aircraft will not be in the right place at the right time.
We cannot afford 500 offshore helicopter platforms, positioned all around the UK, each with 2 S92’s... which would be a great solution. We equally cannot have 1 base with an R22 - somewhere between the two is the compromise.
We have to buy what we can afford. Draken/Airbus will crucify Bristow on price.
Thread Starter
Sécurité Civile have 23 bases and are supplemented by the Gendarmie fleet. It's the sort of organisation you have if your SRR is not much bigger than your land area and you have quite a number of major SAR hotspots. I am not detecting an appetite at the MCA for 23+ bases. There is also a much greater emphasis on patient treatment in UK SAR than in some other territories.
As for the cheapest bid, well Draken and Airbus, like others, will not get an opportunity to be the cheapest bid at final tender if they do not demonstrate in the earlier stages that they have a technically more than adequate, and preferably innovatively progressive, solution. The MCA are not laying this out on a plate this time. Nobody knows going in exactly what boxes they have to tick. There is probably a lot of making your own boxes. Anyone who has picked too many accountants and MBAs for their bid team instead of lineys and posh hoverers with imagination and ambitious SAR ethos may not perform well in the environment that I expect the new process to create.
As for the cheapest bid, well Draken and Airbus, like others, will not get an opportunity to be the cheapest bid at final tender if they do not demonstrate in the earlier stages that they have a technically more than adequate, and preferably innovatively progressive, solution. The MCA are not laying this out on a plate this time. Nobody knows going in exactly what boxes they have to tick. There is probably a lot of making your own boxes. Anyone who has picked too many accountants and MBAs for their bid team instead of lineys and posh hoverers with imagination and ambitious SAR ethos may not perform well in the environment that I expect the new process to create.
It's still going to come down to money though - the country is broke and Trillions in debt - the solution can be as innovative as you like but in the current and short-term climate, it will have cost as a major factor.
it doesn't help that "Draken" is an awful name that sounds like a Bond Villain. Who on earth comes up with these names? The name hardly resonates safety, reliability and dependability etc does it?
I know it's just a name, but these things do affect how people view your "brand"
I know it's just a name, but these things do affect how people view your "brand"
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by [email protected]
It's still going to come down to money though - the country is broke and Trillions in debt - ... ... ...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deficit-Myth-Modern-Monetary-Economy/dp/1529352525/
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-deficit-myth/stephanie-kelton/9781529352528
Also, the MCA is using the idea that each accidental death costs the state a sum of around Ł2M as part of the arithmetic for this contract and this is in the public domain. That means that each year of operations of this current service is paying for the entire ten years of the contract including both fixed and variable costs. I am reliably informed that a number like that was also being used in the previous contract process. A few years ago, I was asked about the cost of helicopter rescue and arrived at the same figure independently using what I had found out from organisations like the Health and Safety Executive, Network Rail and the Crown Office who all propose similar numbers.
Every budget holder in the civil service loves to go to his boss and tell him that he got it so much cheaper, and I am sure Damien Oliver is no different in that respect, but the reality is that pouring money into a well equipped and well staffed highly capable search and rescue aviation service is a wonderful way of injecting money into the economy at a time when stimulus is desperately needed.
it doesn't help that "Draken" is an awful name that sounds like a Bond Villain. Who on earth comes up with these names? The name hardly resonates safety, reliability and dependability etc does it?
I know it's just a name, but these things do affect how people view your "brand"
I know it's just a name, but these things do affect how people view your "brand"
pouring money into a well equipped and well staffed highly capable search and rescue aviation service is a wonderful way of injecting money into the economy
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by [email protected]
Or of propping up an otherwise struggling company - as we are doing at the moment
And keeping your people alive is never going to be a bad thing to do.
I wonder what the Payload for a 145 would be in Sar Fit?
2 hoists ,Flir turret, search light , Floats, Life rafts and a wet floor. suppose your only looking at 1 causality statistically. Hems plus basically.
2 hoists ,Flir turret, search light , Floats, Life rafts and a wet floor. suppose your only looking at 1 causality statistically. Hems plus basically.
Single-pilot SAR? Excellent, we are back to the Wessex days
Originally Posted by [email protected]
Single-pilot SAR? Excellent, we are back to the Wessex days
Thread Starter
Thread Starter
In the light of news of the shifting industry landscape in recent days, there is an interesting question added to the industry Q&A record on the MCA site.
"7.1. If we name a subcontractor in the SQ, are we obligated to use them?"
"7.1. If we name a subcontractor in the SQ, are we obligated to use them?"