- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
From today's National Post:
National Post
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
By Chris Wattie
National Post
The Canadian air force wants to spend $6-billion on a fleet of more than 50 new transport and search-and-rescue aircraft under a proposal to be presented to Cabinet this month, the National Post has learned.
Senior defence sources said the air force is putting the finishing touches on an "omnibus" plan to solve the looming crisis in its air transport system.
The plan would allow the Canadian Forces to buy badly needed replacements for its Hercules cargo planes, long overdue new search-and-rescue aircraft and a fleet of new heavy-lift helicopters in one fell swoop.
"There are big air mobility issues to deal with and there's a certain urgency to this," said one senior official familiar with the plan. "If it's not addressed soon, it will become critical."
The plan has not yet been approved by Bill Graham, the Defence Minister.
But the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "The department is making this a priority for the fall ... this is something we're going to look at putting to government as soon as possible."
The proposal now on the table would see the Department of National Defence buying between 15 and 20 of the latest model of Lockheed Martin's long-serving Hercules transport plane, the C-130J, to replace its fleet of model E Hercules, which are more than 40 years old.
It also includes 15 new fixed-wing search-and-rescue planes -- likely the Italian-made C-27J Spartan -- long overdue replacements for six CC-115 Buffalo aircraft now in service in British Columbia.
The air force also wants to buy 20 CH-47 Chinooks -- twin-rotor helicopters capable of carrying as many as 44 soldiers or more than 13 tonnes of cargo, vehicles or heavy weapons in overseas theatres such as Afghanistan.
The bill for the new aircraft and the necessary support and servicing contracts would come in at more than $6-billion, at least some of which will have to be new money allocated by Cabinet to the defence budget, the sources said.
The acquisition of the new planes would be spread over the next five to 10 years, but the air force has already said it needs to replace the Buffalos and the oldest of its Hercules planes by 2010 at the latest.
The plan does not directly address the Canadian Forces' need for strategic airlift -- long-distance, heavy-lift cargo planes capable of flying hundreds of tonnes of equipment or supplies around the globe.
"The piece that's missing ... is strategic airlift," said one senior air force officer. "That's going to be addressed somehow, but whether it's buying new aircraft or leasing or joining some sort of strategic lift 'pool' has not been decided."
The Canadian Forces air transport fleet has been struggling for years with ageing aircraft and mounting maintenance costs.
Air force officials said the Hercules have already begun hitting the end of their effective lifespans -- five years before the military expected to begin replacing its workhorse cargo aircraft.
Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce Cooke, the program and engineering manager for the Hercules fleet, said two of the oldest planes have reached their "ultimate economic lifespan" -- the point at which it costs more to maintain them than it would to buy a new aircraft.
"We're almost at a point now where that is a real option," Lt.-Col. Cooke said. "The amount of money we're putting into the old airframes ironically could be very, very similar in costs to going out and buying a new airframe."
The military's ailing air transport system was dealt another blow this month after a safety bulletin from Lockheed-Martin, the U.S.-based manufacturer of the Hercules, recommended expensive and time-consuming inspections for potentially disastrous cracks in the aircraft's wings.
Two of the air force's oldest Hercules are already over the limit of 50,000 flying hours, the point at which Lockheed-Martin recommends grounding the aircraft for extensive testing, and four more are quickly approaching that level.
That will mean 18 of the air force's 32 CC-130 Hercules aircraft will have to be taken out of active duty over the next few months, Lt.-Col. Cooke said.
Although the air force has already done "almost 65%" of the recommended inspections of its Hercules' wings, he said the rest of the inspections could take aircraft out of service for weeks and eat up scarce funds.
"We honestly don't know yet how much it will cost.... It could be in the hundreds of thousands."
The problem of cracked wings was first discovered two years ago in the Canadian Hercules fleet, which is among the oldest in the world.
"The bottom line is that we are now at the point where we either invest significant funds to rebuild the aircraft or we take the same amount and replace the bird with another, new aircraft," Lt.-Col. Cooke said.
National Post
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
By Chris Wattie
National Post
The Canadian air force wants to spend $6-billion on a fleet of more than 50 new transport and search-and-rescue aircraft under a proposal to be presented to Cabinet this month, the National Post has learned.
Senior defence sources said the air force is putting the finishing touches on an "omnibus" plan to solve the looming crisis in its air transport system.
The plan would allow the Canadian Forces to buy badly needed replacements for its Hercules cargo planes, long overdue new search-and-rescue aircraft and a fleet of new heavy-lift helicopters in one fell swoop.
"There are big air mobility issues to deal with and there's a certain urgency to this," said one senior official familiar with the plan. "If it's not addressed soon, it will become critical."
The plan has not yet been approved by Bill Graham, the Defence Minister.
But the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "The department is making this a priority for the fall ... this is something we're going to look at putting to government as soon as possible."
The proposal now on the table would see the Department of National Defence buying between 15 and 20 of the latest model of Lockheed Martin's long-serving Hercules transport plane, the C-130J, to replace its fleet of model E Hercules, which are more than 40 years old.
It also includes 15 new fixed-wing search-and-rescue planes -- likely the Italian-made C-27J Spartan -- long overdue replacements for six CC-115 Buffalo aircraft now in service in British Columbia.
The air force also wants to buy 20 CH-47 Chinooks -- twin-rotor helicopters capable of carrying as many as 44 soldiers or more than 13 tonnes of cargo, vehicles or heavy weapons in overseas theatres such as Afghanistan.
The bill for the new aircraft and the necessary support and servicing contracts would come in at more than $6-billion, at least some of which will have to be new money allocated by Cabinet to the defence budget, the sources said.
The acquisition of the new planes would be spread over the next five to 10 years, but the air force has already said it needs to replace the Buffalos and the oldest of its Hercules planes by 2010 at the latest.
The plan does not directly address the Canadian Forces' need for strategic airlift -- long-distance, heavy-lift cargo planes capable of flying hundreds of tonnes of equipment or supplies around the globe.
"The piece that's missing ... is strategic airlift," said one senior air force officer. "That's going to be addressed somehow, but whether it's buying new aircraft or leasing or joining some sort of strategic lift 'pool' has not been decided."
The Canadian Forces air transport fleet has been struggling for years with ageing aircraft and mounting maintenance costs.
Air force officials said the Hercules have already begun hitting the end of their effective lifespans -- five years before the military expected to begin replacing its workhorse cargo aircraft.
Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce Cooke, the program and engineering manager for the Hercules fleet, said two of the oldest planes have reached their "ultimate economic lifespan" -- the point at which it costs more to maintain them than it would to buy a new aircraft.
"We're almost at a point now where that is a real option," Lt.-Col. Cooke said. "The amount of money we're putting into the old airframes ironically could be very, very similar in costs to going out and buying a new airframe."
The military's ailing air transport system was dealt another blow this month after a safety bulletin from Lockheed-Martin, the U.S.-based manufacturer of the Hercules, recommended expensive and time-consuming inspections for potentially disastrous cracks in the aircraft's wings.
Two of the air force's oldest Hercules are already over the limit of 50,000 flying hours, the point at which Lockheed-Martin recommends grounding the aircraft for extensive testing, and four more are quickly approaching that level.
That will mean 18 of the air force's 32 CC-130 Hercules aircraft will have to be taken out of active duty over the next few months, Lt.-Col. Cooke said.
Although the air force has already done "almost 65%" of the recommended inspections of its Hercules' wings, he said the rest of the inspections could take aircraft out of service for weeks and eat up scarce funds.
"We honestly don't know yet how much it will cost.... It could be in the hundreds of thousands."
The problem of cracked wings was first discovered two years ago in the Canadian Hercules fleet, which is among the oldest in the world.
"The bottom line is that we are now at the point where we either invest significant funds to rebuild the aircraft or we take the same amount and replace the bird with another, new aircraft," Lt.-Col. Cooke said.
