This startling conclusion is the culmination of several years of effort to find out why Australia has had disproportionate problems keeping our 22 Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (ARH) and 47 Taipan Multi-Role Helicopters (MRH) flying. Other countries have nowhere near the same level of difficulty as has been experienced here.
The online publication of the first version generated a great deal of feedback. Some of it was hostile but readers were also good enough to provide more information about Army / CASG support systems – particularly the software tool CAMM2 – and, as a consequence, the analysis remains largely unchanged. The track record of Airbus is not as good as we originally argued, but overwhelmingly most of the support problems can be traced back to Defence processes.
One of the negative responses was from a Tiger pilot, who wrote powerfully about the unreliability of the ARH and how this caused frustration and even embarrassment if coalition partners were present. He said that everyone in Army was looking forward to the introduction of the Apache fleet. We cannot use his name without permission, and so readers can better understand the author’s perspective, here is my full reply:
“Hello (name removed) – thank you very much for taking the trouble to email. My work can only be improved by having more contacts with experienced people like you contributing to my knowledge and I look forward to the continuing dialogue.
“My own experiences with Tiger are the complete opposite of yours. I am not a helicopter pilot but an important experience for me was spending 2 weeks with the French ‘Mosquito’ helicopter battalion in Afghanistan in 2011. They had 4 Tigers (one always on hot standby); 6 Gazelles (they operated them in pairs with Tiger because as I am sure you are aware the French only had the 30mm gun, not the air to ground missiles); and an assortment of Cougars and Caracals. All of this was supported by 100 technicians – of whom 22 were Tiger specialists – based at Kabul International Airport.
This is an excerpt from APDR. To read the full story, click here.
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Excellent article! And you mentioned in the article I wish it would have been written 5 years ago. It does seem US industry has an element of capture over defense procurement, the submarine mess is an example of this. Some of this I imagine is due to Australia deciding it is reliant on the US for it’s ultimate defense so there is a desire to keep the US happy and that means keeping the powerful US defense industry happy as well.
As mentioned, excellent article, thank you for writing it.
Thanks – I appreciate the feedback. I can’t prove this but I have the feeling that the greatest thrill our national security people experience is if they receive the praise of the U.S.
Four Countries now, and counting. It’s like watching dominoes fall.
Belgium to replace their NH9.
https://www.brusselstimes.com/402554/army-and-police-to-buy-20-helicopters