PETER LA FRANCHI / CANBERRA
New Zealand is planning a fresh competition to upgrade the avionics and sensor suite of its six Lockheed Martin P-3K Orion maritime patrol aircraft. It also intends to replace its elderly fleet of Bell Model 47 Sioux and UH-1H helicopters.
The tentatively designated Project Guardian will combine a mission system tender with a previously separate two-phase modernisation of the P-3K's communications and navigation systems in an effort to cut costs. New Zealand defence minister Mark Burton expects the overall cost to exceed NZ$300 million ($150 million).
Upgrading the mission suite alone is estimated to cost NZ$150-220 million and will include a new radar, electro-optical surveillance suite, electronic support measures and mission management computers. Burton says the aircraft will continue to support a "modest" sonobuoy processing system for anti-submarine warfare, and a decision on the acquisition of anti-shipping missiles will be made later in the decade.
The P-3s have already been structurally upgraded under Project Kestrel, but the follow-on Project Sirius avionics and sensor upgrade was shelved in 2000 after the winning Raytheon bid was deemed too expensive. New bidders are expected to include Alenia, Boeing, EADS Casa, L-3 (formerly Raytheon), Lockheed Martin and Thales. The first upgraded aircraft will re-enter operational service in 2006 and the rest by 2008.
Replacing the Bell 47 and UH-1H is expected to cost at least NZ$410 million. Recommendations on an interim Sioux replacement, either leased or purchased, will go to the New Zealand Cabinet early in 2003. Burton says no permanent decision on a new training machine can be made until a replacement for the UH-1 is found, with a competition expected in late 2003 or early 2004. Upgrading the 14 utility machines has been rejected as uneconomical.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is to close Whenuapai air base near Auckland, leaving it with one operational base at Ohakea, near Palmerston North, and a support facility at Woodbourne on the south island.Additional reporting by Paul Lewis
Source: Flight International
