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http://www.helihub.com/2011/06/27/canad ... 1-program/
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http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Obama ... story.html
Obama’s choppers purchased for parts for Cormorants
Gear from cancelled presidential helicopters to keep search-and-rescue Cormorants flying
By David Pugliese, Postmedia News June 26, 2011
A Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopter from 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron based at CFB Comox is used during a demonstration in January 2007.
Photograph by: Ian Smith, Postmedia News
The Defence Department has purchased nine U.S. presidential helicopters to be stripped down for spare parts for the Canadian air force’s Cormorant search-and-rescue choppers.
The nine US101 helicopters as well as additional spare parts were purchased at a cost of around $164 million. That price includes shipping, handling, and engineering support.
The Obama administration had pulled the plug on the US101, also known as the VH-71, after the projected cost of the aircraft doubled from $6.5 billion to $13 billion U.S.
News reports indicate the U.S. government invested $3 billion into the helicopters, before the Pentagon decided to withdraw from the program.
“This package is considered an excellent one-time opportunity for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces to address long-standing CH-149 Cormorant fleet availability issues related to the availability of spare parts,” noted Defence Department spokesperson Kim Tulipan.
The VH-71s and the Cormorants are similar variants of the AgustaWestland EH-101 helicopter so there are a number of common parts, she added.
An initial shipment of spare parts arrived in March. The remainder of the items will follow between now and September.
The availability of spare parts for the CH-149 Cormorant fleet, delivered to units starting in 2001 and 2002, remains an ongoing problem, military officers have said.
But AgustaWestland officials say the situation has significantly improved and the availability of the rescue aircraft has increased.
“Much effort has been placed on better forecasting of their spare parts needs, so that we can better supply parts ordered from us on a timely basis,” the firm noted in a statement earlier this year. “Parts supply is a two-way street where we can only be reactive to the customer’s requirements.”
Jack Harris, the NDP defence critic, questioned why DND would not use some of the U.S. helicopter for search and rescue.
But according to DND, the nine airframes are not in flyable condition. They do not have valid airworthiness certificates nor are they configured for search-and-rescue missions, Tulipan noted.
When Obama came to the presidency, he balked at the high cost of the VH-71 helicopter program, which had been started under former president George W. Bush.
“The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me,” Obama told a group of his supporters at the time. “I think it is an example of the procurement process gone amok, and we’re going to have to fix it.”
The president’s helicopter is known as Marine One when he is flying on it.
In May 2009, the U.S. Defense Department axed the helicopter contract after the program fell years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget.
Much of the blame for the problems was put on the U.S. government, which continued to make changes in the program.
Canada originally bought 15 Cormorants, but one has since crashed.
The Cormorant and its variant, the EH-101, have had a long history on Canada’s defence scene.
In 1993, newly elected prime minister Jean Chrétien cancelled a $5-billion contract to purchase the EH-101.
He said Canada couldn’t afford the helicopters ordered by the Conservatives and his government paid a $500-million penalty to get out of the contract.
Five years later, the air force selected the Cormorant, largely the same helicopter as the EH-101, as their choice for a new search-and-rescue helicopter.
But several years ago, a Canadian military team determined that because of limited availability of the Cormorants, 18 of the helicopters were needed for the air force to perform the search-and-rescue role once handled by a smaller number of 40-year-old Labrador choppers.
The Labradors were phased out of service in 2004.
“There are a number of DND studies with which AgustaWestland concurs, that the size of the Cormorant fleet at 14 aircraft, is simply too small to operate to meet all the envisaged search and rescue, and training needs, even with an optimal regular maintenance schedule,” AgustaWestland noted in its statement.