The US Coast Guard's (USCG) decision to re-engine its Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin helicopters has been broadly supported by the US General Accounting Office (GAO), an investigative arm of Congress, although it criticises certain aspects of the controversial plan. Honeywell, meanwhile, has filed a protest with the USCG challenging the decision to re-engine the HH-65s with Turbomeca Arriel engines (Flight International, 23-29 March).
A preliminary report by the GAO says the USCG's decision to replace the existing Honeywell LTS101-750 engines "was both fact- and risk-based". The GAO says it verified data on 36 in-flight power loss incidents between October 2003 and mid-January, cited by the USCG as justification for the urgent re-engining of its HH-65s. Whereas the original plan was for the HH-65s to be upgraded under the USCG's Deepwater programme beginning in fiscal year 2006, the bulk of the helicopters will now be re-engined between October/ November this year and July 2006.
The GAO criticises the USCG's plan to buy an additional 38 uprated LTS101-850s as a temporary upgrade. Because of delays in testing the -850 caused by engine seizures, installation of the 61 engines already purchased will not be completed until November, by which time the Arriel 2C2-CG re-engining programme should be under way, the GAO says. Testing of the LTS101-850 is to be completed this month, after which the USCG says it will review its decision to purchase the additional 38 engines.
The GAO also criticises the fact that the re-engining request for information (RFI) issued on the USCG's behalf by Deepwater prime contractor Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) was not aligned with the still-to-be-defined HH-65 upgrade requirements under the Deepwater programme. The re-engining RFI required a 10% power reserve while a 20% reserve is expected to be required when the HH-65 is armed under the Deepwater programme.
Honeywell's protest is centred on ICGS's decision to select the Turbomeca Arriel based solely on the RFI, without issuing a competitive request for proposals.
GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
