Probleme f

[N5528P]

Nachdem das Modernisierungsprogramm der Seasprite Hubschrauber auch am Abstürzen ist, gibts auch bei den Tigern Probleme...

02-05-2006
Defence delay for Tiger choppers

ANOTHER major defence program is under threat, with the project to equip the army with Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters (ARHs) becoming bogged down with technical problems and delays.

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) found early production aircraft failed to meet 14 airworthiness requirements for weight, engine power, crash resistance, ability to fly over water and weapons system performance. The ANAO says an option to replace the existing engines could add an extra $110 million to the project. The most important problem appears to be with the electronics, which means Tigers cannot yet operate at night or in bad weather in Australian civil aviation airspace.

Defence has provisionally accepted some Tigers but with limitations on their operation, including a requirement that they may only be flown by instructors and experienced aircrew. Defence is buying 22 Tigers and originally wanted them in service by December 2004. It has provisionally accepted some aircraft but there is no clear indication when full operational capability will be attained.

ANAO said the project was launched in 1998 with the contract with Eurocopter International Pacific, now Australian Aerospace, signed in December 2001. The first four Tigers were to be built in France and the rest in Brisbane. This project has a budget of $1.96 billion with about half spent so far. ANAO said the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) had already claimed $258,000 in liquidated damages because of the delays.

It said the project was launched at a time when DMO was seeking to improve procurement performance, then blighted by well publicised problems in high-profile projects, particularly the Collins submarines and Seasprite helicopters. But what was supposed to be a straightforward, low risk, off-the-shelf purchase of an aircraft already in service abroad did not turn out that way.

"The Australian variant of the Tiger ARH is largely modified to cater for Australian safety requirements, communications, avionics and weapons configurations," it said. "The Australian Tiger ARH is more developmental than anticipated." This isn't just Australia's problem.

Both France and Germany, which ordered Tigers 18 months before Australia, have encountered production and acceptance delays. The French Government accepted its first Tiger only in March 2005, four months after Australia. ANAO said it had been intended that Australia's purchase of Tigers would benefit from the larger and earlier European purchases. That could cost big in the long run, ANAO warned.

"The lack of operational experience in maintaining this capability in other defence forces has meant that original cost estimates associated with the through-life support were immature and exposed defence to significant future budgetary risks," it said. Opposition defence spokesman Robert McClelland said this was another example of mismanagement of a key military helicopter project. "The propensity of the government to over-engineer these projects places taxpayers at significant risk, while none-the-less ultimately providing first class aviation capability," he said. "Increasing pressure on the overall defence budget means we have got to get these high-tech projects right."

Opposition defence procurement spokesman Senator Mark Bishop said the problems facing the Tiger project meant troops serving overseas must continue to rely on outdated equipment. He said he would pursue the government on the $110 million cost blow-out at the next round of Senate estimates proceedings.

Originalartikel zu finden unter: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19004192-1702,00.html?from=rss