Defence: Project Sea 1431

Senator Chris Evans asked the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 16 May 2002:

With reference to Project Sea 1431:

1. (a) When were the four 'attrition' Seahawks purchased under Project 1308; and (b) when were they delivered.
2. What was the cost of each of these helicopters.
3. What was the rationale of purchasing four helicopters without the logistic support to use them.
4. Were these four attrition helicopters exactly the same as the other Seahawk helicopters used by the Royal Australian Navy; if not, what modifications or equipment differences exist between these four helicopters and the other Seahawks.
5. Prior to the implementation of Project Sea 1431 were these four helicopters flown; if so, for how many hours.
6. (a) What was the total cost of storing the four helicopters at Nowra prior to Sea 1431; and (b) how many people were employed to maintain these helicopters while stored.
7. Does this project now allow the four helicopters to be fully used in addition to the existing capability.
8. (a) What was the total funding for Project Sea 1431; and (b) what was the funding for its first year and each subsequent year.
9. When did this project commence.
10. Is it still due to be completed in mid-2002; if not: (a) what is the new completion date; and (b) what were the causes for the delay.

Senator Hill - The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

1. 1. On 30 July 1985 the Commonwealth signed a contract with United Technologies Corporation (Sikorsky Aircraft Division) for the supply of eight S-70B-2 Seahawk Helicopters. On 6 May 1986 the Commonwealth exercised an option to procure an additional eight S-70B-2 Seahawk Helicopters. The four attrition S-70B-2 Seahawks were purchased as part of that option.
   2. The 16 Seahawks, of which 4 were purchased for attrition, were delivered from 30 September 1989 to 30 June 1991.
2. $16,937,339 each for the first eight helicopters at January 1984 prices. In exercising the option for the second batch of eight Seahawks it was agreed that the unit price for each of the first four would be $US10,589,277 and for each of the remaining four it would be $US10,239,277 stated in January 1984 US Dollars, plus applicable escalation.
3. The four attrition aircraft were purchased by the Commonwealth to replace aircraft in the operating pool that it was predicted would be lost due to mishaps. When the sixteen S-70B-2 aircraft were acquired, the worldwide attrition rate was in the order of 1:13,000 hours. With the first Guided Missile Frigate due for retirement in 2008 and the last in 2021, planned S-70B-2 Rates of Effort (ROE) for the Life of Type of the aircraft indicated that statistically, four of the sixteen aircraft could have been lost due to peacetime attrition by 2021. In the event that a helicopter is damaged beyond repair, it does not destroy its logistic support at the same time, therefore the attrition aircraft would have replaced the crashed aircraft and utilised the existing logistic support.
4. Yes.
5. The attrition aircraft were rotated throughout the operating fleet for fleet management purposes. This was done to distribute the number of flying hours evenly across the entire fleet and in doing so stagger aircraft maintenance and early retirement of some airframes due to higher than expected airframes hours. As the each of the aircraft have entered attrition storage at some stage and the 'attrition' aircraft are not separately identifiable, the question of how many hours were flown is not quantifiable. Aircraft in the S-70B-2 fleet have flown between 2,000 and 3,000 hours.
6. 1. There was no specific identifiable cost associated with the storage of the 'attrition' aircraft as the storage of the aircraft was not identified as a separate item in the contract and is a component of the commercial contract for the support of aircraft at Nowra.
   2. As there was no specifically identified item in the commercial contract for support of the attrition aircraft the number of people employed cannot be specifically identified, however it is estimated that one person per year was dedicated to maintain the aircraft.
7. See above.
8. 1. Project Approval was for $42.100 million (December 1996 Price Basis).
   2. 
      

      1996/97	$0.042 million
      1997/98	$9.640 million
      1998/99	$14.940 million
      1999/00	$9.860 million
      2000/01	$3.410 million
      Management Reserve	$4.208 million

9. The project gained approval in August 1996.
10. 1. The greater bulk of acquisition will be completed by mid 2002, however due to some procurement long-lead-time activity it is now not anticipated to complete until mid 2004. This affects approximately 2% of the total acquisition. All four aircraft have been operational since early 2002.
    2. Some of the components, such as radar avionics and dynamic components required extensive spares assessment which led to delays in placement of purchase requests. It is also the nature of these particular components that they have long lead-times for manufacture and delivery.

close