Sea King replacement delayed again
First choppers not arriving until 2013
The Canadian military’s plans to acquire new Maritime helicopters have taken another hit, with aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky acknowledging it won’t meet its targets this year or next for delivering the choppers.
Sikorsky was supposed to deliver five Cyclone helicopters in 2012 and 19 in 2013 as part of the Defence Department’s Maritime helicopter program. But Louis Chenevert, chairman of the corporation that owns Sikorsky, has conceded that won’t be happening. Instead, Sikorsky plans to deliver eight of the Cyclone helicopters in 2013, he said.
The original contract called for the first Sikorsky Cyclone helicopter to be delivered in November 2008, with deliveries of all 28 helicopters completed by early 2011. But Sikorsky has yet to turn over a single helicopter to Canada under the $5.7-billion program. The Cyclone is supposed to replace the military’s aging Sea King helicopters.
The Conservatives have laid blame on the Liberals for the problem program because Paul Martin’s government awarded the contract to Sikorsky in 2004. Liberals have countered that the mismanagement has occurred under Conservative watch.
Liberals said there are substantial penalties in the origi- nal contract the government has not enforced.
Government documents obtained by the Citizen show that the Conservative government could have hit Sikorsky with up to $89 million in fines for missing its deadlines, but it decided to waive those penalties.
Instead, the government renegotiated with Sikorsky and, under a new deal, Canada is to pay the U.S. aerospace firm $117 million extra for improvements to be made to the Cyclone, as well as changes to the long-term in-service support package for the aircraft.
But Sikorsky failed to meet those new delivery deadlines as well.
The government is now re-negotiating another deal with the firm, but it is unclear when the helicopters might arrive.
Public Works did not comment.
Sikorsky spokesman Paul Jackson stated in an e-mail Tuesday that 24 of the 28 Cyclones are in production, assembly or flight-testing. “This is a complex development program using very advanced technologies,” he stated. “We are in discussions with the government as to how best to move forward. We are working toward a win-win solution to provide the aircraft to the Canadian Forces as quickly as possible.”
Jackson said there is no definite schedule for when the deliveries are going to take place in 2013. That is the subject of ongoing discussions with the Canadian government, he added.
In the summer, Defence Minister Peter MacKay acknowledged the ongoing problems and said he hoped “we will be back on track in the fall and taking regular delivery of Cyclone helicopters from Sikorsky.”
Chenevert told market analysts at a recent meeting that the existing contract is still in effect, but said the firm was not going to deliver on that. “I have the contract and that is the contract,” he said. “But at the same time, we didn’t build the five (helicopters) this year. I think we’ll see what develops as we engage in these discussions” with the Canadian government, he added.
Sikorsky is the prime contractor for the Maritime helicopter project, while General Dynamics Canada Ltd. Ottawa, and L-3 MAS, Mirabel Quebec are principal subcontractors.