The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is to launch a tender process late this year for the provision of a fully commercialised helicopter training service to replace its Eurocopter AS350BA Squirrel aircraft.
RAN officials told a closed-door industry briefing on 25 July that the service is seeking new twin-engine aircraft equipped with glass cockpits, instrument flight rated and capable of short-term shipborne operation. The aircraft would enter service around 2003-2004.
An invitation to register for the requirement is tentatively set for release in October, followed by a restricted request for tender in the first half of 2002. Decisions are still to be made on whether the programme will be run as part of the fledgling Australian Defence Private Financing Initiative.
The requirement will seek the supply of a fully integrated training syllabus for RAN helicopter pilots. RAN officials told the briefing that the baseline requirement for aircraft would be predicated on 4,000h of flying operations a year, but this could rise to 14,000h.
RAN officials said that, while the requirement was not included in the Australian Defence Capability Plan released at the end of June, it was hoped money would be found through operational savings to enable the programme to proceed.
Companies invited to the briefing included AgustaWestland, BAE Systems Australia, Bell Helicopter and Raytheon Australia.
The full Australian Defence Force training complement of 18 AS350BAs were transferred to the service earlier this year after a decision in 2000 to separate RAN and Australian Army helicopter pilot training into different streams following basic training. The RAN also has six AS350BAs in operational service as utility aircraft aboard its FFG7 class frigates.
The Australian Army is set to launch its own commercially outsourced helicopter training requirement in late 2002.
Source: Flight International
