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CH-148 Cyclone Progress

I doubt Sik/LocMart wants to do a folding tail A model.

I believe they would require a lot more airframes to make it viable (50 ish).

I could be totally wrong but I think that COA was discussed and thrown out as not beneficial to either party due to costs.
 
I doubt Sik/LocMart wants to do a folding tail A model.

I believe they would require a lot more airframes to make it viable (50 ish).

I could be totally wrong but I think that COA was discussed and thrown out as not beneficial to either party due to costs.
I can see that.

I’m just worried the end result will be the death of Canadian MH.
 
Is there a historical example, say post 1969, of the Department of Defense and the CAF admitting that a medium or large scale equipment program had failed post delivery and then scrapped the program and changed directions?
I think Carney would have no problem driving the rhetorical bus over Liberal PMs past (again - e.g. consumer carbon tax) if this ever escalates to the PM's office.
 
Progress?
Canadian Maritime Helicopter Program (CMHP) – The Company is in ongoing discussions with the customer regarding a potential restructure to certain contractual terms and conditions and to expand the scope of work that would be beneficial to both parties. Communications with the customer during the second quarter of 2025 led to subsequent decisions made by the Company to focus on providing additional mission capabilities, enhanced logistical support, fleet life extension, and revised expectations regarding flight hours. As a result of revised cost and sales estimates for the program during the second quarter of 2025, the Company recognized additional pretax losses of $570 million on this program in RMS' financial results.
https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2025-07-22-Lockheed-Martin-Reports-Second-Quarter-2025-Financial-Results
 
VAdm Topshee pulling no punches here. Makes me wonder if they are wanting to cut their losses and replace it.


Thank you Angus!

Excited Well Done GIF
 
Speaks truth about helicopters....wow.

GJ.
Speaks a truth about helicopters…

How about we start with cost. The Air Force, driven in part by the Navy, spec’d “the best helicopter in the world.” GOFOs were even saying it was until a couple of years ago. Even when Chrétien said “not the Cadillac “ we didn’t really change the systems spec. They then tried to buy that Cadillac on a Pinto budget. Now they’re trying to say the cost is too high. And for “reasons” they still aren’t paying the full amount to support those systems, but expecting the full engineering services.

Secondly, blame. There’s plenty to go around, and I’d put PMO at the top of the list. But Sik, GD, Adm(Mat) as a whole, PW, the Air Force, and the Navy all share some, and yes, even 12 Wing. The lack of interest in air ops at the operational and strategic level by the Navy historically has been laughable.

That same lack of interest in how air ops are actually done doesn’t bode well for any nascent aspirations to recreate their own “Fleet Air Arm.”

One of the things that he has been harping on about is Link-11. The current situation was predicted by some who were trying to develop Link knowledge in the MH community (and didn’t want to get it from LRP who were historically fubar’d wrt Link), and they were firmly told to shut up by PMO wholly supported by 12 Wing (yes, I could give names).

My take is that he has been politely asked to make his opinion known in an attempt to get Sikorsky to blink, because if they walk away it will remove the cost and embarrassment from DND.

There is a way out of this… spend the money you would need to spend in order to support “the best Maritime Helicopter in the world.” Don’t see it happening.
 
Merlin-HM2-013.jpg

Fixed it for you.
In a perfect world we would have not even tried to design our own 101, but just bought the Merlin. But we didn’t.

However, this option is not without risks. It won’t happen overnight, and it won’t fix the other problems that exist.

In my opinion, this doesn’t mean regenerating the fleet, it means starting over. I don’t think either the RCAF or the RCN has enough support for MH embedded in them to see that through.

Fully reading Topshee’s comments in CDR, and other places, leads me to believe we may be seeing the death of MH in Canada. I’m not sure his thought bubbles on alternatives will lead to a robust replacement as part of the RCN.
 
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