Cyclone still forming: Now we'll have "interim maritime helicopters"

The shenanigans continue. Now we learn the first 18 choppers will be under-spec. What a mess:

New navy chopper falls short of endurance requirement for flight time

The Canadian officer who will oversee the first flights of Canada's new fleet of navy helicopters next year [oddly listed under "Current Aircraft" at preceding link] says the choppers currently can't pass an endurance test that requires them to fly for nearly three hours in extreme conditions.

"It (the helicopter) falls short of the endurance requirement as allowed under the revised contract," Col. Sam Michaud, commander of Nova Scotia's 12 Wing Shearwater airbase, said in an interview Tuesday.

The MH-92 Cyclone helicopter's original contract had specified that 28 choppers be delivered, at a rate of one per month, beginning in November 2008.

However, a revised contract announced last year allowed for the delivery of the helicopters to begin in November 2010, two years behind schedule [emphasis added]. It also doesn't require the choppers to meet the 170-minute flying time until after the 19th helicopter has been delivered in 2012.

But Michaud said he's confident the Cyclones will satisfy the requirement, and that the aging fleet of Sea King helicopters can keep operating until then.

Still, he acknowledges there will be some limits - such as shorter missions and the need to use more helicopters to perform the same mission - until the endurance requirement is met.

"So right now, the issue with the interim maritime helicopters is they're having some challenges getting to that endurance number that we've asked for," said Michaud.

The base commander explained that the helicopter is heavier than originally expected, and as a result fuel is consumed more quickly [emphasis added, now why might that be?--see end of quote]...

Michaud explained that when the helicopter's operation requirements were written in the 1990s, defence research experts determined the harsher conditions the aircraft would have to endure, and then calculated the periods of time it would have to stay in the air to carry out missions.

"To succeed at that mission, to have a probability of success, you need to be able to fly for two hours and 50 minutes," he said.

He noted that when the helicopter arrives at 12 Wing Shearwater airbase, it will be capable of performing the majority of its missions, as it will be over sea water in cooler air that's considered more dense [like HMCS Winnipeg in the Gulf of Aden recently--hah!] .

The choppers are considered to be the "eyes and ears" of the navy, and are used to fly missions from Canadian frigates that roam the world. They are also frequently assigned to assist with search and rescue missions.

The Cyclone's design was based on Sikorsky's H-92 civilian helicopter, which is used in the offshore oil industry [Canada is the first and only customer for the helicopter's military version].

The redesigned, military version has seen the addition of a folding tail and rotors for storage aboard warships, anti-submarine warfare electronics, and a system that allows the aircraft to be flown by computer.

As I wrote in an earlier post:

...
There should be a formal investigation, with the results made public, into how Sikorsky won the competition and into the subsequent management of the project. I think it disgraceful that the Liberal government of Paul Martin, the CF, and Public Works chose in 2004 to buy a paper aircraft--that still has no other buyer, an aircraft that in reality simply could not meet the contract's terms without major changes to the original specifications of the machine. It also seems that management of the project has been, to say the least, troubled (opaque too) from its inception some years after the Chretien government, as one of its first acts, cancelled the contract for the "Cadillac" (hah!) EH-101 as our new maritime helicopter. At a cost of $478.3 million.

This pork must have been a factor in 2004 [...] and for keeping with the Cyclone now:

...
As part of its winning bid, Sikorsky has committed to undertaking more than $4.5 billion in industrial activity across Canada. The direct benefit of this activity for Canadians will continue long after the delivery of the last helicopter, with work on the helicopter project continuing over the next 20 years. Sikorsky has committed to partner with 170 firms, both large and small, and from our Aboriginal business community, with most regions of the country being home to significant portions of the project activity.

Sikorsky’s commitment includes more than $1 billion in Atlantic Canada—an unequivocal acknowledgment of the expertise of individuals and firms in the aerospace industry across the Atlantic region. Sikorsky’s bid also involves major activity in the West, totalling more than $390 million and involving innovative companies across the region—from Vancouver to the established industry in Manitoba. As well, Canada’s traditional aerospace centres in Ontario and Quebec will host significant portions of the project, including more than $2 billion in Ontario and $955 million in Quebec...

As Defense Industry Daily put it:

Canada’s Maritime Helicopter Replacement Program has been a textbook military procurement program over its long history. Unfortunately, it has been a textbook example of what not to do. While Canada’s Sea King helicopter fleet aged and deteriorated to potentially dangerous levels, political pettiness and lack of concern turned a straightforward off-the-shelf buy into a 25+ year long odyssey of cancellations, lawsuits, rebids, and more...

CH-148 Cyclone
(click to view full)

Or, as DND rather dryly observed in 2004:

...
The Maritime Helicopter Project has faced its share of challenges, but the Government of Canada and the Department of National Defence are confident and determined that it will result in an unrivaled helicopter at the forefront of modern technology.

No, er, shoot.

Update: It's not really about "extreme conditions":

The federal government now says the first 19 choppers in a new fleet of navy helicopters aren't expect to pass a flying endurance test at relatively mild air temperatures of about 15 C, clarifying an earlier statement that said the aircraft won't pass the test at what the military described as "high-end" temperatures...

Doug Baker, the director of the maritime helicopter project, says the first version of the Cyclone helicopters will be accepted even if they're 21 minutes short of the requirement of two hours and 50 minutes of flying time in the endurance test.

In an interview, he said the federal government decided to accept the helicopters because it allows the military time to do operational testing and training while the aircraft's manufacturer, Sikorsky, undertakes improvements that are needed to the choppers to meet the standards of the endurance test.

The shortfall in flying time will be permitted at about 15 C, at sea level and under standard atmospheric conditions...