May 15, 200620 yr From DefenseNews Australia May Sue After Grounding U.S. Helicopters By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, SYDNEY The Australian navy has grounded a one-billion dollar ($750 million U.S.) fleet of U.S.-built helicopters over safety concerns and may sue the contractors, the defense minister said May 15. The navy ordered 11 of the anti-submarine and anti-ship Super Seasprite helicopters but none of the 10 delivered since 2001 have been in full operational service due to technical problems. Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said he had banned the Seasprites from flying and that the government was considering scrapping the fleet altogether. ”I have asked the department of defense to consider all options including, if appropriate, legal action against the contractors who have not fulfilled their obligations to Australia and to Australian taxpayers,” Nelson said. ”We’ve been let down seriously by a number of contractors. We have had delays and essentially, as far as I am concerned, the software failures we faced in late March have been the straw that’s broken the camel’s back.” A spokesman for the minister said the problems involved flying at night, over water and in mists. The helicopters were ordered from U.S. defense supplier Kaman Aerospace, with sub-contractors involved in upgrading the used but refurbished airframes with high-tech electronic systems. The government faced a choice of spending up to 200 million dollars to make the helicopters fully operational or paying another 1.5 billion dollars for a new fleet, The Australian newspaper quoted an unnamed defense source as saying.
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