Features Military Procurements
Sea King replacements could be smaller, cheaper options

The possible shift comes as part of a data-gathering engagement
initiated earlier this month in which three rival helicopter
manufacturers were asked to provide information about possible
alternatives to the CH-148 Cyclone, including two much smaller choppers
that could save the government billions of dollars.

The government wants the information by next Tuesday — an indication
it may be preparing to end the nearly 25-year-long saga to replace the
navy's Sea Kings and a procurement process that the then-Minister of
Defence Peter MacKay called "the worst in the history of Canada."

The attempt to chart a new course for the long-delayed helicopter
replacement program took place in Ottawa last Thursday at a meeting
between government officials and executives of helicopter-makers Augusta
Westland, Eurocopter subsidiary NH Industries and Cyclone manufacturer
Sikorsky.

The fast-tracked process is an indication the government may be close
to giving up on the $5-billion contract with Sikorsky for 28 Cyclone helicopters meant to replace the military workhorse Sea Kings which have
been relied on for 50 years.

CBC News has learned there are four other helicopters being
considered, including the MH-60 Sea Hawk – a naval version of Sikorsky’s
Blackhawk used by various branches of the U.S. Armed Forces – as well
as Augusta Westland’s 159 and the Augusta Westland 101, which are about
a third the size of the Sea King and Cyclone. NH Industries was also
asked about its medium-sized NH-90 chopper.

However, while a smaller helicopter could cost less and would likely
be delivered much faster than the stalled Cyclone, it would require the
military to completely rethink the way it uses helicopters at sea.

A smaller helicopter could work for anti-submarine warfare, search
and rescue, cargo carrying and transporting naval boarding parties,
reports the CBC’s James Cudmore, who has been covering the helicopter
procurement process. But he says it couldn’t do all those things at the
same time like the much larger Sea King or Cyclone.

It's a question of “do we want giant helicopters that can do
everything, or smaller less costly ones we can have sooner,” Cudmore
told Evan Solomon on Power and Politics on Tuesday.

It's long been alleged the Liberal government in 2004 chose Sikorsky
to avoid the embarrassment of buying the Augusta Westland 101, which the
Conservative government of Brian Mulroney ordered, and was famously
scrapped by Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government in 1993.

The maritime helicopter replacement program, which Prime Minister
Stephen Harper’s Conservative government took over in 2006, has been
plagued by delays.

The Conservatives have blamed the previous Liberal government for
snags in the procurement process and the cancellation of an earlier
helicopter program, which cost more than $500 million.

An auditor general’s report in 2010 concluded the procurement process
was flawed from the outset, saying the government believed it was
getting an “off-the-shelf” product from Sikorsky, but that a
misunderstanding over “state-of-the-art” technology promised by the
Cyclone-maker “set the stage for significant misalignment,” the report
said.