U.K. Government, MPs Clash On Helo Strategy
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Douglas Barrie/London barrie@aviationweek.com
The British government today decided to abandon an aspiration to bring forward a medium-lift helicopter acquisition and instead pursuing a life-extension program -- the same day a Parliamentary committee said this was exactly the wrong approach.
Quentin Davies, the minister for defense equipment and support, threw the ministry's medium helicopter acquisition program into turmoil in June when he insisted on an "eleventh hour" fundamental review.
Industry scrambled to respond to the review, which included accelerating the Future Medium Helicopter program instead of carrying out life extension programs for the Royal Air Force Puma and Royal Navy Sea King Mk4 helicopters.
Secretary of State For Defense Bob Ainsworth said Thursday, "Following a review, the Defense Ministry decided that it is not feasible to advance the purchase of the Future Medium Helicopter and forego the Puma Life Extension Program, without placing unacceptable risk on operational commitments."
Parliament's Defense Committee published its report on U.K. helicopter capabilities, also on July 16, which is highly critical of the life extension programs.
"Given the age of both Sea King and Puma ... extending their lives at considerable cost is not the best option, either operationally or in terms of the use of public money. We do not believe that these LEPs [life extension programs] will provide adequate capability or value for the taxpayer. Only a procurement of new helicopters can meet the original objective of reducing the number of types of helicopter in service within the U.K. Armed Forces."
At the time of the review Davies said the ministry would explore "dispensing with those two life-extension programs and bringing forward the future medium helicopter procurement, which would ... need to be done on a modified off-the-shelf basis."
The long-term shortfall in battlefield rotary lift is once again being highlighted by the war in Afghanistan. It is an area which has suffered comparative procurement neglect, with funding cuts and introduction into service dates deferred over the past few years.
Previous delays in the planned acquisition of a replacement for the Sea King Mk4 and Puma forced the military to look at life-extension programs for the Puma and Sea King to at least partially bridge a capability gap.
Part of the government's problem was the very tight timescale for bringing forward the Future Medium Helicopter procurement. It needed 20 of the new helicopters to be available quickly to try to avoid a gap should it not proceed with the Puma and Sea King the life extension programs. The Royal Air Force has an operational fleet of 34 Puma helicopters, while the Royal Navy has 37 Sea King Mk4s. The Future Medium Helicopter procurement would replace both types, but not on a one-for-one basis. Overall a total of 50 airframes will eventually be required to replace the two types.
Perhaps an even more fundamental problem was the cost.
The problem for Davies is that the medium helicopter procurement option was -- one industry executive suggests -- more expensive than the cost of the extension programs. While these only buy roughly an additional decade of service, the ministry is already facing severe budget pressure in the near term. The Puma program will be billed at more than £300 million ($516 million).
The ministry's intent is to be under contract on at least the Puma life extension by the year's end. Ainsworth says: "We are continuing to assess how we can best continue to deliver the capability currently provided by Sea King Mark 4."
Given the time pressures, and the pressure on funding, a go-ahead for the Mk4 life extension now seems the most likely outcome.
Photo credit: RAF
