Sea King replacement

RotorPilot

Senior
Mar 11, 2003
289
0
Lockheed Martin pursuing contract for Sea King replacement
Last Updated Wed, 09 Apr 2003 12:02:09


[SIZE= 10pt]OTTAWA - Lockheed Martin Canada said it is pursing a $3.1 billion contract to replace the Canadian military's fleet of aging Sea King helicopters. [/SIZE]
[SIZE= 10pt]Lockheed Martin said it is joining with NHIndustries and Thales Systems Canada of Ottawa to promote a customized version of NHI's NH90 chopper called the MH90 as the replacement for the Sea Kings. [/SIZE]
Full story:
[url="http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/04/09/lockheed_030409"]http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/04/09/lockheed_030409[/URL]
 
Chopper specs take nosedive

Bid to replace Sea Kings 'dumbed down'



Thu, May 8, 2003


OTTAWA -- Bidders battling for the lucrative contract to replace the aging Sea King maritime helicopters are only required to prove they can deliver on 15% of the bells and whistles.
The defence department has told the four consortiums expected to bid on the $3-billion contract that they must prove they can deliver on 486 of the 3,200 requirements today.

Full story:
[url="http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News/2003/05/08/81970.html"]http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/...5/08/81970.html[/URL]
 
Copter bid amended after memo from envoy
PM's nephew met with official from European bidder
[SIZE= 10pt]
Andrew McIntosh[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 10pt]National Post[/SIZE]
Thursday, May 08, 2003


[SIZE= 9pt]OTTAWA - Raymond Chrétien, Canada's Ambassador to France and the nephew of the Prime Minister, held a private meeting with Eurocopter Canada Ltd. officials in 2001 to discuss the French helicopter maker's "serious concerns" about bias in the tendering for the $2.5-billion contract for new maritime defence helicopters.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 9pt]Raymond Chrétien met with Pierre MacDonald, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister in Quebec, who chairs the Eurocopter Canada board of directors. Mr. MacDonald was also appointed by Jean Chrétien to the board of the Ottawa-based Export Development Corporation, a federal government Crown corporation.[/SIZE]
Full story:
[url="http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/story.asp?id=CEAFEE26-6930-4051-A765-1F76A8FCBC68"]http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/st...65-1F76A8FCBC68[/URL]
 
[SIZE= 8.5pt][/SIZE][SIZE= 8.5pt]
French interests favoured: opposition[/SIZE][SIZE= 14pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12pt]Ambassador to [/SIZE][SIZE= 12pt]France[/SIZE][SIZE= 12pt] has 'become ambassador for Eurocopter'[/SIZE][SIZE= 12pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12pt] [/SIZE][SIZE= 12pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12pt]Andrew McIntosh[/SIZE][SIZE= 12pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12pt]National Post[/SIZE][SIZE= 12pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12pt]Friday, May 09, 2003[/SIZE]

[color=" #3333ff msobidifontsize 120pt"][url="http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/story.asp?id=CBFE94E7-ACB7-4FAC-B5A2-DF1A9AC276FF"]http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/st...A2-DF1A9AC276FF[/color][/URL][SIZE= 12pt][/SIZE]
 
What nobody else will fly
Sea King pilots admit they're crazy, but say it's because of what they do, not because of what they fly
[SIZE= 8.5pt] [color=" black"][/color][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 11pt]Chris Wattie[/SIZE][SIZE= 11pt][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 11pt]National Post[color=" black"][/color][/SIZE]
[SIZE= 11pt]Thursday, May 08, 2003[color=" black"][/color][/SIZE]

[COLOR= blue][url="http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/story.asp?id=8FD501FE-C6D6-4FA1-A343-CB47560EFB06"]http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/st...43-CB47560EFB06[/URL][/COLOR]
 
[SIZE= 14pt]Copter project 'abject failure'[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 10pt]By DANIEL LEBLANC
From Saturday's Globe and Mail[/SIZE][SIZE= 9pt] [/SIZE]
Ottawa — There has been so much political "interference" in Ottawa's bid to buy new naval helicopters that the winning aircraft could end up offering less performance than the 40-year-old Sea Kings that they will replace, a Canadian Forces officer says in a document obtained by The Globe and Mail.
In a rare critique of the government by a serving officer, Colonel Brian Akitt accused the federal government of sacrificing the need for a safe and highly capable helicopter in an attempt to save face politically.




Full story:

[url="http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030509.uheli0510/BNStory/National/"]http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/...Story/National/
[/URL]
 
Three engines are better than two
[color=" black msobidifontsize 85pt msofareastfontfamily Arial Unicode MS"] [/color]
National Post[color=" black msobidifontsize 85pt msofareastfontfamily Arial Unicode MS"][/color]
Monday, May 12, 2003
Canada's Sea King helicopters are hovering dinosaurs. Actually, they do not hover much: The 1950s-era aircraft require 30 hours of maintenance for every one hour of flight. Earlier this year, a Sea King crashed on the deck of a Canadian warship, the latest in a long series of snafus. Last week, Canada's maritime helicopter program was again at the centre of a government controversy. According to documents revealed last week by the National Post, the tendering process for the $2.5-billion purchase of 28 new helicopters seems to have been manipulated to favour a French manufacturer.[color=" black msobidifontsize 85pt"][/color]

[url="http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/story.asp?id=044A7A78-FDB0-414D-8305-D220C50204F1"]http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/st...05-D220C50204F1[/URL]
 
Helicopter inquiry demanded

By DANIEL LEBLANC and KIM LUNMAN
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Monday, May. 12, 2003


Ottawa — Political and industry critics are demanding an investigation into Ottawa's bid to purchase $3-billion worth of helicopters after allegations by a senior Canadian Forces officer of political interference in the process.

[url="http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030512.uheli0511/BNStory/National/"]http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/...Story/National/
[/URL]
 
News Release...RotorPilot has set a new Guinness Worlds Record for talking to himself. The record setting posting commenced 4/9/2003 and were quicly achied by 5/12/2003 when Rotorpilot recorded the 10th solo reply to his original post of 4/9/2003. Local Mental Hospital Officials are asking for a new blackout until they close their Multiple Personality investigation.

PS - Keep it up big guy!!
 
LongRanger

One of the best newspapers of this country has the following advertising slogan: Perspective is everything !
I can’t agree more.
Me think this saga deserves to be closely followed and in the ‘news’ section it gets lost in the middle of all the other stuff and loses that perspective...

I am reading at this time Storms of Controversy - The secret Arrow files revealed from Palmiro Campagna. You can't imagine how both screenplays resemble each other 50 years apart !

What I do not know is if somebody follows the links I provide. The thread has 273 views but that doesn't prove the articles were read...

BTW Did you make an appointment for me LongRanger ?
 
With all that cheap talk from LongRanger I almost forgot today's news !



McCallum swats at helicopter critic

The Globe and Mail
Monday, May. 12, 2003
Ottawa — Defence Minister John McCallum dismissed fresh charges Monday of political interference in the process to buy new naval helicopters, saying a scathing report by a senior military officer contained errors.
Mr. McCallum said he's read "every page" of the 34-page paper Col. Brian Akitt wrote during a six-month course on national security at Canadian Forces College last year.


[url="http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030512.wchop512/BNStory/National/?query=Helicopter"]http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/...uery=Helicopter[/URL]


Helicopter contract not changed: McCallum

Sheldon Alberts, Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief
National Post
Tuesday, May 13, 2003

Defence Minister John McCallum says the tendering process for new maritime helicopters has "full support" from the Canadian military and has not been altered to favour one manufacturer over another.

[url="http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/story.asp?id=5CEC7BEE-BDD6-49BC-9BB9-8056FD4294B7"]http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/st...B9-8056FD4294B7[/URL]



Chopper bid called clean[COLOR= black][/COLOR]

Allan Thompson
Ottawa Bureau[COLOR= black][/COLOR]

May. 13, 2003. 01:00 AM[color=" black"][/color]

OTTAWA—Defence Minister John McCallum is adamant there has not been "one iota" of political interference in the defence department's bid to buy new helicopters to replace the aging fleet of Sea Kings.

[url="http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1052251556829"]http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/Conte...d=1052251556829[/URL]
 
Gentlemen, gentlemen, this is nothing new. This is the way we do things in Canada...we talk them to death. I refer you to past adventures in military procurement:

1) The government decided that they needed a replacement for our only aircraft carrier at the time, the HMCS Magnificent, an RN cast off itself. Although better ones were available, they decided on an aircraft carrier the Brits had built in 1943 and hardly used. It had been sitting idle for 3 years. It was called the HMS Powerful. So we bought it from the Brits and commissioned it the HMCS Bonaventure. Then they found out that the deck was too short for jet aircraft, so they had an angled deck installed at great cost. Then they found out that it was very slow and this made the take-offs 'dicey' in quiet winds. The first aircraft off her decks was a Tracker and it promptly went into the sea off her bow on take-off. In 1964 it was decided that a major refit was needed. This refir cost $11M 1964 Dollars. They kept it for 1 1/2 years after that was completed and sold it for scrap to the Japanese for slightly over $800,000 1967 Dollars.

2) We wanted British subs and found what we wanted. They had been sitting idle for some time. They talked and talked and talked about it and finally bought them for $750M. They are still not working properly and massive amounts of money have to be spent on them. They literally got old while the government talked and talked.


So why does this present fiasco surprise anyone? My goodness, this is the Canadian way of doing things. They've now said that the SeaKings "will have to last into the next decade". Of course they will, because they have to talk it to death. We shouldn't have been called Canada at all, we should have been named "Ya, But What If?
7.gif