 |
| SeaSprite (Wiki Info) |
By Ian Stuart
The Navy's troubled fleet of five Seasprite helicopters may soon be replaced by up to 11 refurbished older helicopters rejected by Australia in 2008 because they were considered unsafe and unsuitable.
But Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman said the air worthiness issues the Australians identified had been corrected and there were still plenty of "off-ramps" before any deal was done.
Australia ordered the helicopters in 1997 under the John Howard Government but the project was delayed when modifications ordered by Australia failed to meet performance standards or were too difficult to implement in the refurbished air frames.
According to AAP, seven of the 11 helicopters were originally built in 1963 to 1965 and the other four in the mid-1980s.
Dr Coleman said that what was on offer was up-to-date capability overall, not second-hand capability.
"The reality is we wouldn't buy it if it's not state-of-the-art capability that fits our need.
We not going for 'this is cheap, let's grab it.' There's been a hell of a lot of work that has gone into it."
He was not sure how old the air frames were but the technology on military aircraft was upgraded "and that is actually the key functionality".
Read the full story at NZherald