Minister for defence Stephen Smith and minister for defence materiel Jason Clare have announced that a high-level comprehensive diagnostic review of the MRH-90 helicopter project would occur during February 2011.
As reported in both the Defence Annual Report and the ANAO Major Project Report released in 2010, the project has suffered delays of 12 months for the Navy’s helicopters and 18 months for the Army’s helicopters.
Delays are due to a series of key issues, including engine failure, transmission oil cooler fan failures and the poor availability of spares.
The previous government approved the order of 46 MRH-90s to replace the Army’s Black Hawk and Navy’s Sea King fleets.
So far 13 MRH-90 helicopters have been accepted from Australian Aerospace by Defence to date and are currently being used for testing and initial crew training.
Minister Smith said that the full diagnostic review would be supported by external specialists.
It will provide recommendations to Government on the actions necessary to fully implement this important project.
When questioned if the program was to be added to the Projects of Concern list, Smith outlined that the review was designed to explore the issues the project is facing and why.
Translation: maybe, we’ll see what the review says.