News Story: Japan MSDF says human error behind recent helicopter crash

A JMSDF SH-60J Seahawk helicopter (Image: Wiki Commons)

TOKYO, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) said on Thursday that a recent helicopter crash off northeastern Japan was caused by human error, and flights of helicopters of the same type will be resumed.

Three of the four crewmen aboard the helicopter were still missing and the MSDF is continuing searching for them.

A SH-60J patrol helicopter belonging to the MSDF lost contact during a landing and takeoff drill on a destroyer off Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan on Aug. 26.

Four people were on board the helicopter. One of them was rescued some 40 minutes after the incident, while the other three remained missing.

Part of the wreckage of the helicopter was found later around the crash area. The water at the crash site is about 2,600 meters deep.

According to the MSDF, based on data from the flight recorder and the account of a rescued crew member, the crash happened when the crew members were focusing on fixing an error with the bearing indicator and failed to notice the chopper was losing balance.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: 3 missing after MSDF helicopter crashes in Sea of Japan

A JMSDF SH-60J Seahawk (Image: Wiki Commons)

TOKYO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- A helicopter belonging to Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) crashed during a drill Saturday night, leaving three crew members missing.

The SH-60J patrol helicopter lost contact at around 10:50 p.m. local time (1350 GMT) on Saturday during a landing and takeoff drill on a destroyer off Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, according to Japan's Defense Ministry.

Four people were on board the helicopter. One of them was rescued some 40 minutes after the incident, and the MSDF and Japan Coast Guard are still searching for the other three, according to the MSDF.

Japan's new Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters on Sunday that parts of the wreckage of the helicopter had been found around the crash area.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Indian Black Shark torpedo deal for Navy might be revived

By: Vivek Raghuvanshi

NEW DELHI — Italy's Whitehead Sistemi Subacquei S.p.A., a subsidiary of Leonardo, might be reconsidered to supply Black Shark torpedoes for French Scorpene submarines currently being built in India, according to sources in the Indian Ministry of Defence.  

This follows observations made by India's attorney general on the legality of issuing tenders and its subsidiary defence companies, which are facing probes on charges of alleged corruption. 

In June of last year, MoD announced the cancellation of a $200 million deal for Black Shark torpedoes, but MoD sources said the tender was not formally cancelled and that no intimation of the cancellation was conveyed to the Italian company. 

Whitehead Sistemi Subacquei S.p.A., or WASS, was declared the winner over Atlas Elektronik of Germany in 2014 in a global tender to supply Black Shark torpedoes to be mounted on the six French Scorpene submarines licensed produced by state-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. 

Although WASS  emerged  as  the  lowest  bidder against Atlas Elektronik, the contract could not be signed because in August 2014, the government put a ban on signing the contracts in the wake of the probe into the VVIP  helicopters scam relating to AgustaWestland, another subsidiary of Leonardo.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Report: Japan’s Largest Warship Heading to South China Sea, Will Train With U.S., Indian Navies

By: Sam LaGrone

One of Japan’s largest warship is set to conduct three months of operations in the South China Sea, according to a Monday report in Reuters.

The 24,000-ton JS Izumo (DDH-183) will depart in May from its homeport in Yokosuka, Japan for a series of port visits and exercises running into August.

The ship, “will make stops in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka before joining the Malabar joint naval exercise with Indian and U.S. naval vessels in the Indian Ocean in July,” reported the wire.

“The aim is to test the capability of the Izumo by sending it out on an extended mission,” a source told Reuters.

“It will train with the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea.”

A U.S. defense official told USNI News on Monday that there were training events with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces planned for the period but did not outline specifics.

News Story: Indonesian Air Force Review Clears AW101 Helicopter Purchase

EH101/AW-101 Merlin

by Chris Pocock

Leonardo's recent delivery of an AW101 helicopter to the Indonesian air force (Indonesian acronym TNI-AU) has sparked a public controversy in that country. Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, the current TNI-AU commander, told the Indonesian news agency Antara on February 8 that he was investigating the purchase of three AW101s that was made in late 2015 by his predecessor, Marshal Agus Supriatna, who has since retired. But nine days later, Hadi told Antara that the purchase was in order.

Leonardo did not announce the sale. A spokesman for the company told AIN that there were several AW101 contracts “where the customer does not want us to perform any publicity.”

Until this acquisition, helicopters for the Indonesian armed forces had been exclusively supplied by the state-owned Indonesian Aerospace company (Indonesian acronym PTDI, previously IPTN) from its factory at Bandung. PTDI has a long-established industrial collaboration agreement with Airbus Helicopters. By the end of 2016, PTDI had delivered 34 Airbus Puma/Super Puma/Caracal helicopters to the TNI-AU that were completed at Bandung. It had similarly completed and delivered 63 Bell 412s for the Indonesian Army.

In an earlier report on the AW101 acquisition on December 3, 2015—shortly after it was agreed—Antara quoted chief cabinet secretary Pramono Agung as saying that Indonesian President Joko Widodo did not approve of the purchase. Pramono’s comment came after a meeting to discuss defense equipment in the president’s office. Pramono told Antara then, that the AW101s were intended for use as VIP transports.

 The cabinet secretary added that the AW101’s “price was considered too high”, and that the helicopters in current use by the Indonesian air force for VIP transport were adequate. These are NAS-332 Super Pumas from the Bandung factory. The AW101s would be costing $55 million each, it was said.

Read the full story at AINonline

News Story: Another twist in Indonesia's puzzling AW101 helicopter buy

EH101/AW-101 Merlin

By: Mike Yeo

MELBOURNE, Australia — The strange saga of Indonesia’s acquisition of the Leonardo AW101 helicopter has taken a stranger twist, with photos showing the first delivered aircraft in a hangar surrounded by police tape. 

The Indonesian military is investigating how a deal that should have been cancelled ended up with the delivery of the first helicopter in early February, with the new chief of Staff of the Indonesian Air Force, Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, telling local media the fate of the helicopter has yet to be decided. 

Tjahjanto added that the helicopter is currently stored in a hangar at the Indonesian capital of Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma air base pending the completion of the investigation. 

The Air Force had requested the acquisition of three AW101s for Very Very Important Person duties, or VVIP, in November 2015, even though Indonesia’s Defense Industry Act obliges the military use locally manufactured defense equipment whenever possible.

State-owned aerospace company PT Dirgantara Indonesia manufactures components for the Airbus H215 Super Puma and H225 Caracal helicopters and has carried out final assembly of both types for the Indonesian armed forces, although then-Air Force Chief of Staff Air Marshall Agus Supriatna had said the late delivery of Super Pumas in 2014 and its inability to meet Air Force requirements disqualified the company from supplying the VVIP helicopters. 

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: India's former Air Force chief gets bail in chopper scam case

AgustaWestland EH101/AW-101 Merlin

NEW DELHI, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- An Indian court Monday granted bail to India's former Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, who was arrested earlier this month by the country's premier probe agency over allegations of corruption in a luxury helicopter deal with an Anglo-Italian company.

The special judge of the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) court, Arvind Kumar, released Tyagi, a decorated war veteran, on a personal bond of 200,000 Indian rupees (3,000 U.S. dollars) and one surety of the same amount.

But the court has imposed certain riders on Tyagi's bail like restraining him from leaving Delhi and asking him not to attempt to influence any witnesses in the case that can hamper the CBI probe. Two other accused in the same case have, however, been denied bail by the court.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Italy Orders Retrial in India Helicopter Kickback Case

By: Tom Kington

Italy’s supreme court has ordered a retrial for Giuseppe Orsi, the former CEO at Leonardo-Finmeccanica, who was sentenced to four and a half years in April for his alleged role in helicopter contract kickbacks in India. 

The decision means the supreme court found procedural errors in the April conviction, and has effectively voided that verdict, requesting a new trial take place. 

The charges related to a 560 million euro deal to sell 12 AW101 helicopters to India in 2010, when Orsi was head of Agusta Westland, then a unit of Italy’s Finmeccanica, which is now known as Leonardo-Finmeccanica. 

The twists and turns of Orsi’s legal odyssey since then are symptomatic of Italy’s lengthy and often convoluted three stage justice system. 

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Former Indian Air Force Chief Arrested in AgustaWestland Copter Deal

AgustaWestland EH101/AW-101 Merlin

By: Vivek Raghuvanshi

NEW DELHI — A former Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi, was arrested on Friday by the Central Bureau of Investigation for alleged corruption in the purchase of 12 AW 101 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italy's Leonardo-Finmeccanica.

Along with Tyagi, Delhi based lawyer Gautam Khaitan and his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi also were arrested, "on the allegations accepting illegal gratification for exercising influence through corrupt and/or illegal means," according to the government.

In January 2014, MoD officials canceled the €546 million helicopter contract inked in 2010 with the Anglo-Italian company on charges of corruption, referring the case to the CBI.

India's Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, during a debate in Parliament in April this year, said the request for proposals for the deal had been diverted to favor AgustaWestland.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Italian Firm Sees Quality of Products Overcoming India Blacklist Threat

Tom Kington

Leonardo-Finmeccanica Head Optimistic About US T-X Trainer Bid

FARNBOROUGH, England — The CEO of Italy’s Leonardo-Finmeccanica has said the quality of his firm’s products may be enough to persuade India to drop plans to blacklist it from future tenders.

“You have to respect the Indian decision, but I think in a patient and clever way we can recreate conditions because we have important systems that India needs, and in every field I hope we can reopen a good relationship with India,” Mauro Moretti told Defense News at the Farnborough International Airshow.

In May, Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced Leonardo-Finmeccancia would be blacklisted in India in the wake of allegations it offered bribes to win a €560 million (US $620 million) Indian Air Force helicopter contract in 2010.

At the time, the firm played down the announcement, saying its business was “very marginal” in India, despite fears it would lose a valuable torpedo contract from the country.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Singapore delays $1 billion military helicopter buy after Super Puma crash

Singapore Air Force AS332 Super Puma (Image: Wiki Commons)

BY SIVA GOVINDASAMY

Singapore has delayed a decision on a $1 billion helicopter purchase after the crash in April of a civilian Airbus (AIR.PA) Super Puma whose military version was the frontrunner to clinch the order, sources familiar with the matter said.

The city-state, a highly sought-after customer for military contractors, had sought to replace 32 ageing Super Pumas but the move has now been put on ice until there is clarity over the fallout from the April 29 crash which killed 13 oil workers and crew off the coast of Norway, they added.

The delay comes as the helicopters subsidiary of Airbus Group, called Airbus Helicopters, wrestles with the latest in a series of setbacks to the H225 Super Puma, a workhorse of the offshore oil industry and widely used across the world for search and rescue and heavy military airlift operations.

Singapore’s procurement, pitting Airbus Helicopters against Italian firm Leonardo Finmeccanica (LDOF.MI), marks the first major test of confidence in the military version of the aircraft since April’s crash, which led to the worldwide grounding of the civilian version.

Read the full story at Reuters

News Story: Helicopter Corruption Case Rocks Indian Parliament

EH101/AW-101 Merlin

Vivek Raghuvanshi

NEW DELHI — Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told Parliament on Wednesday that the procurement process was circumvented in the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland UK.

Parrikar was replying during a debate on the alleged corruption charges in the purchase of VVIP helicopters by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2010.

Last month a Milan, Italy, court ruled that the $553 million AgustaWestland contract for buying VVIP helicopters from Italian company Finmeccanica, signed in 2010, involved payoffs to Indian officials.

Parrikar gave a chronology of the procurement process from when the IAF first sought to acquire the VVIP helicopters to replace the aging MI-8 helicopter.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: India asks UK to extradite British 'middleman' in chopper scam

EH101/AW-101 Merlin

India's government said Thursday it has asked Britain to extradite British consultant Christian Michel James over a scandal-hit deal the previous government agreed with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland to supply helicopters to Delhi.

India suspended the deal in 2013 after Italian investigators began looking into accusations AgustaWestland paid bribes to win the 556-million-euro ($753 million) contract for 12 helicopters intended for use by the prime minister and other VIPs.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has been seeking the custody of James -- one of 13 main accused in the case -- as a key intermediary who managed political parties and players in Italy and India.

"Yes, government of India has approached the government of the United Kingdom for extradition of Christian Michel to India in connection with the AgustaWestland helicopter scam," VK Singh, junior foreign minister, told parliament.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Singapore Close To Super Puma Replacement Choice

RSAF Super Puma on the USS Harpers Ferry during
CARAT 2007 (Image: Wiki Commons)

by Mike Yeo

Singapore is close to selecting a replacement for its Super Puma medium-lift helicopters. The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) currently operates the survivors of 34 Super Pumas acquired in 1985 and 1991, which subsequently had an avionics and capability upgrade beginning in the latter half of the 2000s. The RSAF is also planning to replace some older Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters.

In a recent speech to the Singapore Parliament, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said that the country is “finalizing our evaluations and expects the new RSAF helicopters soon.” Typically very secretive about its military acquisition programs, Singapore has neither announced the number of Super Puma replacements it is seeking nor disclosed the specifics of its requirement. However, the AgustaWestland AW101, Airbus Helicopters NH90 and H225M Caracal, and Sikorsky S-92 were prominent in the display halls at the recent Singapore Airshow, which could point to the likely contenders for the replacement program.

The RSAF uses the Super Pumas and Chinooks primarily in support of army operations, lifting troops and underslung equipment. In addition, both types have carried out search-and-rescue (SAR) missions in Singapore’s large SAR region and supported humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in the region.

Read the full story at AINonline

News Story: Court Reverses Former Finmeccanica CEO Orsi's Acquittal

Tom Kington

An Italian appellate court has reversed the acquittal of former Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi on corruption charges, handing him a four-and-a-half year sentence for his role in the alleged offering of kickbacks to win an Indian helicopter contract.

Also convicted was former AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini, who received four years.

The decision overturns a 2014 Italian court decision to acquit Orsi and Spagnolini of international corruption. At the 2014 trial, the pair had only received two year sentences for the lesser charge of false bookkeeping.

The charges related to a €560 million deal to sell 12 AW101 helicopters to India in 2010.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Italy Blocks Indian Application to MTCR

By Tom Kington and Vivek Raghuvanshi

ROME and NEW DELHI — Italy has blocked India’s application to join a key missile and UAV technology control committee in protest of India’s arrest of two Italian Marines suspected of shooting dead Indian fishermen.

Italy's veto of India’s entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which counts 34 member states and was set up in 1987, was not supported by any other member and defies US ambitions to get India admitted to the club.

The diplomatic spat occurred in Rotterdam at the Oct. 5-9 plenary meeting of the group, whose members agree to work to stop the proliferation of missile and UAV technology capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload for at least 300 kilometers.

Decisions to admit new members must be approved unanimously, which allowed Italy to block India’s entry.

“Italy was not ready to give its consensus to India’s application,” a source familiar with events at the meeting said.

The source added that members were aware that Italy’s decision was linked to the arrest of the Marines. “It didn’t come up,” he said, “but it was the subtext, everyone knew.”

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Think Tank: Sea, air and land updates (8-Sep-2015)

AW-101 Merlin Helicopter (File Photo)

Mercedes Page, Alice Slevison and Zoe Hawkins

Sea State

Last week five Chinese Navy ships came within 12 nautical miles of the US mainland, sailing inside American territorial waters as they passed through the Bering Sea, coinciding with President Obama’s trip to Alaska. Pentagon officials downplayed the expedition, a first for the Chinese, saying that the ships were in American waters legally and had complied with international law. A Pentagon spokesperson said that the US respects ‘the freedom of all nations to operate military vessels in international waters in accordance with international law.’

Taiwan is reported to have allocated funds for a US$92.55 million indigenous submarine design programme to replace its current two Dutch-built Hai Lung-class submarines, which are close to 30 years old. The long-awaited acquisition programme is said to be laid out in the National Defense Ministry’s 2016 budget, and covers the initial four year contract design phase of what will be a decades-long program. Read more about the submarine plan over at The Diplomat.

Still on the submarine front, a new Lowy Institute report released last week by Rory Medcalf and Brendan Thomas-Noone looks at the implications of sea-based nuclear weapons for strategic stability in the Indo–Pacific. Read the report in full here.

News Story: Izumo Drives Japanese Naval Buildup

By Paul Kallender-Umezu

TOKYO — Last month's commissioning of the Japanese helicopter carrier Izumo spearheads the buildup of Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) antisubmarine capabilities, analysts said.

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani led the March 25 commissioning of the 248-meter, 24,000-ton helicopter carrier, Japan's largest postwar naval vessel, capable of carrying seven Mitsubishi-built SH-60K antisubmarine warfare (ASW) helicopters and seven AgustaWestland MCM-101 mine countermeasure helicopters and up to 400 troops.

In this ASW role, Izumo forms the third of a four-ship force, which will include another ship in the same class, which is under construction and should enter the fleet around 2017. These two ships will join two 18,300-ton Hyuga-class helicopter carriers commissioned in 2009 and 2011, replacing two smaller Shirane- and two Haruna class-DDHs.

On face value, the Izumo class fits into a longer term MSDF strategy to counter evolving maritime threats from the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), North Korea, and to a lesser extent, the Russian Pacific Fleet, said Guy Stitt, president, AMI International. These threats include increasing numbers of diesel-electric submarines armed with heavyweight torpedoes and anti-ship missiles operating in the littorals with greater range, endurance and stealth, and more strategically, the PLAN's development of missile subs and a nuclear second-strike capability.

"The Izumo brings a unique multimission capability for ASW, mine warfare and organic self-defense, as well as the ability to conduct sustained operations employing unmanned vehicles," Stitt said.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Editorial: Japan's New Helicopter Carrier - Bad News for Chinese Subs?

By Franz-Stefan Gady

Japan now has all the building blocks to field a powerful carrier strike group.

This week, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force commissioned the JS Izumo (DDH-183), a helicopter destroyer, in a ceremony at the JMSDF Yokosuka naval base in Yokohama.

The new carrier’s principal task, although touted as a multi-purpose vessel, will be anti-submarine warfare and command-and-control operations to protect Japanese territories in the East China Sea.

“This heightens our ability to deal with Chinese submarines that have become more difficult to detect,” one Japanese official noted. According to other  JMSDF officials, the ship will also be used for humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) operations.

With a 27,000 tons displacement when fully loaded (some sources state 24,000 tons), the 248 m-long  Izumo-class helicopter carrier is the largest surface combatant in the Japanese fleet to date, and substantially bigger than its predecessor, the Hyūga-class, which yielded 19,000 tons. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: Japan puts helicopter carrier Izumo on sea trials

JS Izumo (DDH 183) shortly after launch (File Photo)

Ridzwan Rahmat

The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) has begun sea trials of its helicopter carrier JS Izumo (DDH 183), a JMSDF official confirmed to IHS Jane's on 29 September.

The 248 m-long vessel, which displaces 24,000 tonnes at full load, is the largest Japanese military ship built since the Second World War and can carry up to 14 helicopters. Izumo and its yet unnamed sister ship (DDH 184) will replace the JMSDF's two Shirane-class destroyers, JS Shirane (DDH 143) and JS Kurama (DDH 144), inducted in March 1980 and 1981 respectively.

According to the JMSDF, Izumo 's sea trials are being carried out in preparation for the vessel's impending commissioning. "The trials have started and will go on for about six months before we commission it in 2015", Lieutenant Commander Yasushi Kojima of the Maritime Staff Office told IHS Jane's . However Lt Cdr Kojima did not reveal the exact nature of the trials nor the date that they started, adding only that they have "just begun".

Read the full story at IHS Jane's Defence Weekly