http://server09.densan.ca/archivenews/060209/cit/060209aw.htm
Denmark junks unreliable drones: Danes hope to sell trouble-prone craft to Canadian Forces
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The Danish military is junking its $92-million aerial drone program after running into numerous technical problems and is now hoping to sell the troubled aircraft to Canada, which still plans to operate the system for its Afghanistan mission.
The Danes pulled the plug on the Sperwer unmanned aerial vehicle several weeks ago and are now in negotiations with Oerlikon Aerospace, the Quebec firm that supplies the Canadian Forces with drones.
Danish military officials, who tried to operate the Sperwer for several years, but were plagued by various malfunctions, cited the poor performance of the aircraft in Canadian hands as one of the reasons they decided to scrap their program. Two Canadian Sperwers were written off in crashes in Afghanis-tan and the robot planes made headlines after a series of other malfunctions and incidents in 2003 and 2004 in Kabul.
Despite the problems, the Canadian military recently announced it was spending another $15 million to buy more Sperwers for its new Kandahar mission. It had already spent $33 million for the purchase of the French-made aircraft.
If the deal between the Danes and Oerlikon goes through, the used Sperwers would be offered to the Canadian military so crews could be trained at home before being sent to Afghanistan. Air force spokes-man Capt. Jim Hutcheson said no one was available to discuss the Sperwer until next week.
But Bill Gelling, an aerospace consultant with Oerlikon, confirmed the firm is in discussions to buy some of the Danish equipment so the Canadian Forces would have enough to train with while its main fleet of drones is in Afghanistan.
There is no formal deal yet with the Canadian Forces and the negotiations with the Danes is an Oerlikon initiative.
Mr. Gelling said the Sperwers operated by Canada are different from those used by the Danes. They would have to be modified if the Canadian military decided to make use of them.
But the Sperwers have caused ongoing headaches for the Danish military, which acquired the drones in May 2001. Following a series of incidents, the Danish air force introduced a ban on flights for varying periods in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In June, military officials recommended the project be shut down.
Danish defence chief Gen. Jesper Helsoe justified the decision by noting the Canadian Forces lost several Sperwers in Afghanistan and is going through some of the same problems.
"The performance of the drones has been worse than expected," Defence Minister Soren Gade told a parliamentary committee several weeks ago. He cited "unresolvable technical problems" with the UAVs.
"They failed to operate in Iraq's desert heat and were unable to take off from high-altitude runways in Afghanistan," he said.
Sperwer is built by Sagem, based in France. Denmark turned down the company's offer of new upgraded models. Officials with Sagem said the drone sold to Canada is based on newer technology. Oerlikon acts as Sagem's prime contractor for the sale of drones to the Canadian Forces.
Mr. Gelling said Sperwer's performance with the Canadian military has improved substantially since its missions in Kabul. So far, there have been 165 flights in Canada and Afghanistan and only two of the aircraft have been destroyed in crashes, he said. Those incidents took place in the early days of operations in Afghanistan.
A 2004 Canadian air force investigation determined the Sperwer, while performing well once it got airborne, had problems in both takeoff and landing as well as various design flaws. It predicted the military would experience a "high vehicle attrition" in using the aircraft, noting that out of 36 initial launches in Afghanistan there were 14 incidents, including five accidents.
The UAVs were rushed into service in November 2003 without the proper support mechanisms in the place, officers also concluded. Since the army didn't have the capability to conduct repairs in the field, the damaged drones had to be sent back to the manufacturer's plant in France. At one point a series of crashes in early 2004 left the army without any UAVs, forcing it to rely on the German military for information provided by its aerial drones.
Other Canadian military officials blame the high altitude and winds in the Kabul area for Sperwer's poor performance.
The Canadian Forces plans to send Sperwers to Afghanistan shortly for its Kandahar operation
