Cyclone "debacle" surprise: Engine not good enough

So why did we buy the beggars in the first place? Earlier:

We sort of have a CH-148 Cyclone, at last
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Australia, for its part, is acquiring a new maritime helicopter--with a competition between two purpose-designed military helicopters. Our Cyclones however are a military version of a civilian aircraft--for which Canada is the first and so far (and probably forever) only customer. Bit of a lesson there, eh?

Now:

Cyclones to get engine upgrade
Change won’t delay or hike costs of choppers

Canada’s new maritime helicopters will need a second set of engine changes, but it won’t add costs beyond an earlier price hike [emphasis added, more here] for the delayed fleet of navy choppers, says the manufacturer.

A spokeswoman for Sikorsky said this week that the engine redesign for the General Electric engines will produce 10 per cent more horsepower for the fleet of 28 Cyclones.


A test model of a Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone refuels in flight, off the flight deck of HMCS Montreal in Halifax Harbour in March. The Sea King replacements will be getting a more powerful engine. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

However, Marianne Heffernan said the engine changes won’t add to the $5-billion cost of the helicopters ["...the maritime helicopters being the most expensive of all projects, by a nose..."] or further delay their delivery, set for 2012, about four years behind schedule [emphasis added].

"GE is developing the new CT7-8A7 engine using their in house funds," she said in an email.

The original Cyclone helicopter, badly needed to replace the navy’s aging fleet of Sea Kings, was to be delivered in November 2008.

Following a renegotiation between Ottawa and the U.S.-based aeronautical firm, the deadline for the first fully compliant helicopter was shifted to June 2012.

Sikorsky sent test helicopters to Halifax over the winter.

The company will also provide six "interim helicopters" — with the earlier CT7-8A1 engine — before the 2012 final delivery deadline, said Dan Hunter, program manager for the helicopter program.

He said in an email there are no changes to the schedule renegotiated with the federal government in 2008 due to the changes to the engine...

The Cyclones were announced by the former Liberal government with considerable fanfare as the replacement to the Sea Kings.

Since then, Peter MacKay, the Conservative defence minister, has called the delays the "worse debacle in Canadian procurement history."

Well, Mr MacKay, your government has been part of that debacle for some time:

Cyclones: You can't point the finger at the Liberals forever, damn it!
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More from Defense Industry Daily:

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...

Er, quite.

And as I wrote in October 2008:

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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...

Once again those dreaded Industrial and Regional Benefits are heavily involved (IRBs--see Benefits for all Canadians last link above).