PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTONDC
Creation of homeland security department complicates US Coast Guard aircraft need
EADS Casa is nervously awaiting an expected year-end deal for a new fleet of US Coast Guard (USCG) fixed-wing patrol aircraft, which it hopes will confirm the selection earlier this year of the CN235ER Persuader. The deal forms part of the $11 billion Deepwater re-equipment programme.
Contract award has progressively slipped, with the creation of the $40 billion budget US Department of Homeland Security raising questions about the need for additional and perhaps larger aircraft. President Bush signed the bill creating the new department last week.
Following selection of the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) team in late June, EADS Casa had expected a contract for 35 CN235ERs to be signed by 1 July. This then slipped to September, and the company is now being told that a deal will come by year-end. "We're getting dizzy," says Doug Bacon, EADS Casa USA principal executive, who concedes that, although the CN235 is the preferred solution, there is still the possibility that this could change.
A number of factors are at play, including broader internal USCG and ICGS discussions about whether the twin-turboprop Persuader and Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS) mission suite are the right choice. The formal creation of the 170,000-strong homeland security department, of which the USCG is now a part, perhaps doubles the number of fixed-wing aircraft required when US Customs Service and Border Patrol needs are taken into account.
The situation is complicated by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics continuing to push the larger Alenia/ Lockheed Martin C-27J and additional C-130Js as part of Deepwater.
EADS Casa counters that the Persuader has an integrated sensor and tactical display suite that is developed, paid for and in service with other operators, and that it was selected not just by ICGS but also by the losing Boeing and Scientific Applications teams.
In addition, if the required number of aircraft is high enough, the CN235 could be manufactured in the USA. Ireland uses CN235Ms as maritime patrol aircraft, and FITS has been selected by Brazil, Mexico, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
Source: Flight International
