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Canadian Defence Procurement — updated and revised January 2004
Politics, Procurement Practices, and Procrastination:
the Quarter-Century Sea King Helicopter
Replacement Saga
Part 13 — Simultaneously Running Out of
Time, Options, and Alternatives
By cancelling the CF EH-101 helicopter order outright, the Liberal government left themselves with no room to
manoeuvre. Granted their options were few but trying to re-negotitate the contract with EH Industries
couldn’t have hurt. Replacing the CH-148 Petrel and CH-149 Chimo order with
‘green’ EH-101s may not have been politically palatable enough. Another option might have been
to try to substitute a smaller, less expensive naval helicopter built by one of EHI’s parent companies.
Such a deal would be extremely difficult to negotiate but, had it been successful, Westland’s
Sea Lynx would be the most likely candidate. Although
the Sea Lynx is not equivalent to the cancelled Petrel, the smaller aircraft has proven itself as
a NATO shipboard helicopter — including as an ASW companion to the EH-101.
The only other alternative available from one of EH Industries’ parent companies was the new Agusta AB412.
While this helicopter was far less suitable from DND’s point of view [1], it would also be very
difficult politically – a virtually-identical helicopter was being built in Quebec as the CH-146
Griffon.
Rage Against the Machine — a ‘Clash of Titans’ or Just Plain
Stubbornness?
Jean Chrétien was still dead set against what he saw as the “Cadillac” winner of the NSA. Not
buying Petrels was just fine with his Minister of National Defence, David Collenette, whose department
was feeling the pinch from Finance Minister Paul Martin [2]. There wasn’t going to be much flexibility at
the political end. But, once the NSA die was cast, it was up to DND planners to offer up alternatives.
So, what happened? The Sea Kings still needed replacing
but the CH-148 was no more. And yet DND seemed to have had no NSA contingency plan. Chrétien had
promised during the election campaign that their “Cadillac” NSA order would be cancelled. And
few Canadians were predicting anything but a Liberal landslide in 1993. Many were the complaints
from DND about years of work on the Sea King replacement wasted by the government but few were
the suggested alternatives.
[1] Although Agusta’s AB412 may have been unsuited to CF requirements, there were serious
suggestions made that DND should consider CH-146 Griffons
– the Canadian-made version of the Bell Model 412, for shipboard duties. See Sidebar.
[2] As Collenette said of DND budget cuts at the time: “The new policy respects the government’s
commitment to reducing deficit”. Perhaps, but the decision to simply cancel the NSA contracts did not
turn out to be very fiscally responsible.
< Part 12 — Going ‘Green’:
Unexamined Option for Shipboard Helicopters
> Part 14 — 1994 Defence White Paper and
Cormorant SAR Helicopters
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