Project Review: The future of naval aviation | ADM Dec 2010/Jan 2011

The battle between the two contenders for the naval helicopter has almost reached its zenith. The ‘urgent operational requirement’ for roughly 24 naval helicopters will be decided early next year, if the current timeline holds true.

Katherine Ziesing | Canberra

Air 9000 Phase 8, the Future Naval Aviation Combat System, calls for the replacement of the in-service Seahawk and cancelled Super Seasprite, with a single aircraft type.

The entirety of the Air 9000 project aims to rationalise the ADF’s helicopter fleet to reduce maintenance costs over the lives of the platform.

For over a year now, both the NH90 NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH) from Australian Aerospace and the MH-60R from Team Romeo (US Navy, Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky) have made their cases, for the benefit of both the project office and the public debate over the capability.

The author has been lucky enough this year to see both the Romeo and the NFH in their natural habitats; with the US Navy (USN) in San Diego and the French Navy in Hyères.

Both navies are at different points in the life cycle of their chosen design but each is eminently happy with its respective solution.

Both helicopters have their pros and cons, which ADM has covered in depth throughout 2010, and it will depend on which priorities the project office focuses on as to who will be recommended to government early in 2011.

A senior Defence source told ADM that the project office had sought to keep the battle as ‘nice’ as possible, as casting either solution in a negative light was not in the interest of the end user or the people having to deliver the chosen solution.

One element which has seen particular focus from the Defence community is the role of Australian industry in the acquisition and support of the new helicopter.

Australian Aerospace released a report they had commissioned from Access Economics in mid-2010 outlining that should the company win the contract, it would see 500 jobs created, along with another 250 indirect jobs.

Half of these 750 jobs would be centred on the Brisbane assembly line.

When ADM asked to see a full copy of the report to analyse the metrics used to come to such workforce conclusions, we were told that much of the information in the report was in their tender documentation that to do so could conflict with DMO’s restrictions on the release of detailed content in the competing bid package.

The company was only comfortable with releasing a document that outlined the highlights of the report.

Team Romeo is very aware that the majority of its contribution to Australian industry will come from sustainment.

The industry members of Team Romeo - Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin, General Electric, Raytheon and CAE - spoke to over 85 companies last year about the opportunities that the Romeo offers, with Memoranda of Understanding and various agreements signed and others still under negotiation.

Team Romeo estimates that they will be able to offer Australian industry at least $1.5 billion worth of work over the initial 10 years of the program, up from the $1 billion mentioned mid last year, after further review of opportunities.

“These opportunities include electronic warfare (EW) work and some integration work when it comes to weapons and tactical data links,” Chris Clapperton, general manager business development in Australia, told ADM.

“For example, Lockheed Martin have already been working with Saab on the data links.”

Sikorsky has also been looking further into the remanufacturing of the Seahawk fleet for regional customers.

The company has conducted their own analysis for the project and believes they have strong business case.

“We’re looking at converting the aircraft into a utility role as opposed to a high end military role,” Clapperton said.

“We would strip them down and replace the cockpit with glass, new avionics and structural upgrades.

“The remanufactured Seahawks would ideally suit a Coast Guard type role.”

The initial business case is based on the 50 H-60 aircraft based in Australia but the region is home to hundreds more similar aircraft that are approaching their 10 or 20 year mark and would benefit from the treatment, Clapperton believes.

The first aircraft through such a facility, based at Brisbane’s Helitech facility, may not even be Australian, he points out.

Commonality
Australian Aerospace has been keen to highlight that the NFH shares 80 per cent commonality with the MRH90 that the Army and Navy are already introducing into service.

But this process has not been without its issues.

Floor deformities, which plagued the MRH program for much of its life, have now been addressed but MRH90 is still some time away from Full Operational Capability.

The first NH90 NFH was transferred to the Dutch Navy in December 2009 and deliveries to the French Navy followed in the later half of 2010, with the French Navy now bedding down their first two Caimans as they have been designated locally.

Deliveries to the Norwegian and Italian Navies also took place at the end of 2010 and early 2011.

The NH90 NFH deliveries follow a two-step approach.

In Step A (Initial Operational Capability), all functions of the Mission System will be available.

This standard enables missions such as search and rescue, casualty evacuation, medical evacuation and vertical replenishment as well as operational training for Anti Surface Ware (ASW)/Anti Submarine Warfare (ASuW) roles.

This is the baseline of the initial NH90 NFH being delivered.

Step B will deliver Full Operational Capability (FOC) from mid 2011.

This configuration will include all Step A missions as well as full weapon integration.

There is also a radar upgrade that will follow Step B to improve the radar’s close in performance.

The aforementioned European navies are going through Step A at the moment as deliveries continue.

By the time the NH90 NFH’s In Service Date is reached in Australia, the NH90 NFH program will have achieved FOC configuration and have completed operational evaluation with the Dutch, French, Norwegian and Italian navies.

Australian Aerospace CEO Dr Jens Goennemann has made the point throughout 2010 that the NATO concept of operations of ‘one helicopter one ship’ are closer to the Australian context than the USN’s carrier battle group situation.

“Because of its versatility and flexibility, it takes fewer NFHs to carry out the workload required by the Royal Australian Navy,” Dr Goennemann explained.

“It creates a genuine one ship, one helicopter operation.”

At first sight of the NFH in Hyères in the south of France, one of the acknowledged advantages of the aircraft is clearly evident – a much larger cabin, which enables up to 12 personnel to be carried while the dipping sonar and operator station remain in place.

And the other immediately obvious fact is that the French Navy test pilots at Hyères are delighted with their new helicopter.

“Since May, the NH90 flying activity is quite good and unserviceability time quite low,” Hyères commanding officer and test pilot Commander Guillaume Guitard said.

“The support structure is in place, ensuring the maintenance responsibility in the Navy which has the technical assistance of Eurocopter and Procurement Agency supervision, and is entirely satisfactory.

“The reliability of the aircraft and its systems is good. Malfunctions encountered so far were teething related mostly and are being dealt with.”

The French Navy expects to have its first units operational in late 2011.

There is also talk among the French Navy that the rear ramp, which can now be offered as a kit that can be installed and removed as needed, will be more popular as deliveries continue.

USN experience
In comparison, the USN has already taken delivery of the 79th MH-60R Seahawk multi-mission helicopter.

But it is the benchmark 75th delivery, celebrated on October 13 last year, which marked more than just a new Seahawk for the fleet.

“Over the last year, Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Sensors division (MS2) has devoted its resources to developing a leaner, more efficient production line for the program,” George Barton, director of Lockheed Martin’s Naval Helicopter Programs, said.

“Those efforts have resulted in nearly doubling our production capacity from 18 aircraft delivered in 2009 to 35 in 2010.”

By increasing the reliability of the production schedule and streamlining the process for integrating mission suites aboard the Romeo, Barton projects a 14 per cent savings.

“That’s like getting one additional mission suite for every 10 purchased,” he said.

MS2 and aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky expect to deliver up to 35 fully missionised MH-60R aircraft in 2010 to the Navy as part of a five-year contract for 139 MH-60Rs.

The contract runs through 2013 but Team Romeo expects another 150 helicopters for USN will be in the future as well.

And the USN is willing to cut back their production between 2014 and 2016 to fulfil the Australian Navy requirements, Clapperton told ADM.

To date, the USN has added MH-60Rs to five of 20 Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadrons (HSMs).

The aircraft are operating aboard all types of naval aviation-capable ships, including carriers, cruisers, amphibious ships, destroyers and frigates.

At the end of 2010, the MH-60R was deployed to both east and west coast USN squadrons, marking the first time both coasts have had deployments at the same time.

The HSM-77 Saberhawks (San Diego, California) are deployed on a long cruise as part of the USS Lincoln Carrier Strike group and the HSM-70 Spartans (Jacksonville, Florida) were deployed on a month-long exercise in the Atlantic.

The HSM-71 Raptors were also deployed earlier in 2010 with the USS John C Stennis carrier group and took part in the RIMPAC exercise.

At the end of the day
The introduction of the Romeo into USN service is well advanced compared to the NFH and its coterie of European navies, but this is just a matter of timelines.

Given time, the NFH will find its feet with its various operators as well.

Eurocopter and Australian Aerospace remain convinced that its offering for Phase 8 is the superior platform, but are cautious about predicting the outcome of the highly contested competition.

“We are competing against a capability,” Eurocopter’s CEO Lutz Bertling said late last year at a briefing in Marignane.

“It is not important for the Australian Navy who delivers the capability… they will hopefully select the best capability they can get for the budget available.

“But if you look at the range of different missions you need to perform in today’s world with such a helicopter, we strongly believe that with the very flexible solution we are offering we would be delivering the much better capability…

“And we are convinced that we are offering the better value.”

Team Romeo also seems quietly confident on their offering as well.

The USN has made their job easier, being staunch supporters of the Romeo for such a close allied nation.

The lure of a proven solution rather than one that is still being accepted into service is their main argument, and is a persuasive one in light of the issues that naval aviation has faced over the past decade.

As mentioned earlier, the project is due to make an appearance before Cabinet in the very near future and both helicopters can fulfil the role.

Yet they are very different platforms with disparate offerings to Australian industry.

The choice will be an interesting test for government.

Disclaimer: The author travelled to the US and France in 2010 as a guest of both Lockheed Martin and EADS respectively.