Cannibalized U.S. choppers to improve availability of Canadian Cormorants: MacKay

OTTAWA – Defence Minister Peter MacKay says buying surplus American aircraft will boost the availability of Canada’s beleaguered Cormorant helicopters.

His comments came Wednesday as more questions were raised about how often the country’s 14 front-line search-and-rescue helicopters are in the shop.

Defence planners are also paying more attention to a controversial U.S. tilt-wing aircraft, seen as a possible magic-bullet replacement.

National Defence spent $164 million this summer buying leftovers from Washington’s cancelled VH-71 presidential helicopter program, an updated version of CH-149 Cormorants.

A briefing note to MacKay warned last year that the Cormorant’s availability is “barely adequate” to meet search-and-rescue requirements, requiring aging Sea King helicopters to be put on standby along the East Coast to replace them.

“Since its introduction in 2001, the Cormorant fleet has been plagued by parts availability and technical support problems, significantly reducing its mission readiness for both training and operations,” said the Sept. 1, 2010, briefing, obtained by The Canadian Press under access to information.

The report warned of “extended periods” when the search helicopter, purchased by the Liberals, would be unavailable along the East Coast.

One possible solution under serious consideration is the purchase of Bell-Boeing’s V-22 Osprey, which could fill the gap in not only helicopter operations, but with the country’s aging fixed-wing search planes that the government has been trying to replace for a decade.

The Osprey, which had a series of spectacular crashes in the developmental stage, is expensive at almost US$67 million per aircraft. It is currently flown by U.S. marines.

The Conservative government sent the company a letter of interest in late 2009, according to defence sources.

In the meantime, the air force has plugged along, trying to keep the Cormorants flying. Its availability rate has often dipped below 40 per cent, according to the documents.

The Defence Department did not answer questions about the Cormorant’s service record and is now refusing to conduct any interviews about the aircraft, especially where it relates to its primary search-and-rescue role.

A second Defence Department briefing, also obtained by The Canadian Press, says using spares from cannibalized U.S. helicopters will allow Cormorant maintainers to stop robbing their own aircraft of parts to keep the fleet in the air.

New Democrat defence critic Jack Harris says the U.S. choppers, which include nine airframes and spare parts, should be upgraded to flying condition and added to Canada’s rescue fleet.

“They could easily reconfigure these helicopters for search and rescue,” he said Wednesday.

But the internal analysis of the purchase suggested it would be a lot of work to bring the mothballed aircraft up to standard.

“The nine assembled spares (airframes) have no valid airworthiness certificates and do not meet the minimum equipment configuration required to employed as a SAR helicopter without modifications,” said the Oct. 29, 2010, briefing.

A former squadron commander said purchasing Ospreys means the air force could do with one aircraft as opposed to two.

“In search and rescue, you’re always left the requirement to land as close as possible to the crash site even after you’ve pushed a couple of Sartechs (search and rescue technicians) out the back of the Hercules (transport plane),” said Dean Black, a retired lieutenant-colonel.

“There’s still the requirement to get down there. That requires some sort of vertical take off and landing capability.”