PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA
The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) and CAE Systems are negotiating a single support contract for Boeing 707, Lockheed Martin C-130H and C-130J, and Sikorsky S-70ASeahawk and Black Hawk simulators.
The five devices are supported through four separate agreements. The new common contract, estimated to be worth over A$20 million ($11 million), is expected to allow the sole-sourcing of future upgrades to be given to CAE rather than being open to competition. The original maintenance contract for the C-130J and 707 simulators signed in 1996 was worth A$3 million for an initial three-year period.
The negotiations follow attempts by CAE in 1999 and 2000 to buy back and lease the five simulators to the Australian DoD to improve support. Those proposals were rejected as the DoDhad still to develop the necessary private financing procedures.
Andrew Morris, CAE executive vice-president military marketing and strategy, says: "These simulators are relatively few and far between so there has been a difficulty in industry in general to maintain the skill sets…..It is an attempt to stabilise the support assets in terms of human resources. A fundamental requirement of the Australian industry involvement [conditions for each simulator acquisition] was to provide through life support, but if you don't have sustainable employment, in the end your in-country support capability disappears."
Wg Cdr Warren Beattie, commanding officer of 285 Training Sqn, Royal Australian Air Force, says the objective is to combine all five simulator types "under the one contract for maintenance which has got to make some savings for Defence. Also it makes it easier for us to do business with CAE. There are a number of initiatives there that help us."
Source: Flight International
