Nelson weighs scrapping helicopter fleet

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson says he will consider taking legal action against the contractors responsible for the grounded Super Seasprite helicopter fleet.

The Federal Government is considering scrapping the fleet of 10 helicopters because of software problems.

Dr Nelson says there are three options for the Navy’s Super Seasprite fleet - persist, modify them, or scrap them altogether.

“[For] almost a decade we have had a succession of let-downs by contractors. This is a project we would never go into in 2006,” he said.

Dr Nelson has grounded the fleet.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley says he hopes the money was not wasted.

“When you’ve spent a billion dollars, you don’t want it to go down the gurgler do you,” he said.

“When you’ve spent a billion dollars, you ought to be able to think that you’ll get it right at some point in time.

“The Seasprite helicopter is operating now with the Kiwi armed forces, it has been doing so for some considerable time, but we weren’t able to get our upgrade right.”

The helicopter project is now five years overdue, and Dr Nelson says it is overly ambitious to fit new technology into an old aircraft.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1638788.htm