The New Zealand Government has relegated the Project Sirius avionics and sensors upgrade for the Royal New Zealand Air Force's Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion fleet close to the bottom of its list of priorities, despite approval in principle for the programme from the previous government.
The best and final offer submitted by Raytheon in January for the six-aircraft upgrade is NZ$445 million ($218 million), which is more than double the NZ$210 million figure approved by the government two years ago. According to the defence ministry, negotiations are continuing to reduce programme costs to an acceptable level.
Defence officials say the increase can be attributed to a combination of inflation and a drop in the value of the New Zealand dollar from $0.70 to $0.48. The aircraft are already undergoing the NZ$100 million Project Kestrel structural upgrade. Sirius calls for a new data management system, radar and electronic support measures, a replacement magnetic anomaly detector and the introduction of an electro-optical sensor suite.
According to New Zealand media reports, Prime Minister Helen Clark says: "In the generally agreed prioritisation for defence purchasing, the army comes at the top, then airlift and maritime lift capacity comes second, issues of surveillance - maritime and air - come third, and the air combat issue has been at the bottom." In March, the government cancelled a lease of 28 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters signed with the USA by the previous administration.
Source: Flight International
