By Ken Pole | July 18, 2012 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 50 seconds.
Manufactured by de Havilland Canada in the 1960’s, the CC-115 Buffalo has proven itself in the field for almost half a century.
Canada’s $3-billion plan for a new generation of fixed-wing search and rescue (FWSAR) aircraft is evidently back on track with the July 18 posting of a terse Letter of Interest (LOI) on the government’s MERX website. The government also plans to begin “sharing elements” of a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) “this summer” in preparation for an Oct. 17-19 workshop for potential bidders on the project, which is expected to see up to 19 aircraft entering service by 2015.
It has been 65 years since the Department of National Defence (DND) assumed primary responsibility for federal SAR, and while it deploys Bell CH-146 Griffons, its dedicated SAR platforms are its Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules aircraft, its AgustaWestland CH-149 Cormorant helicopters, which entered service in 2001, and its diminished fleet of 1960s-era deHavilland CC-115 Buffaloes. The latter, all operated by 442 Transport & Rescue Squadron at Canadian Forces Base Comox on Vancouver Island, originally were scheduled for retirement two decades ago and now cost $20 million annually to maintain.
There were indications at the end of last year that an RFP was imminent, but that was shot down by Public Works & Government Services Canada (PWGSC), the government’s purchasing agent which maintains the MERX site. However, it said, “once a decision has been made, the development of detailed requirements and tendering documents will begin.”
The FWSAR project has been dogged by controversy for years, including accusations that the original Statement of Operational Requirements (SOR) had been written for a specific aircraft rather than for the mission. The increasingly heated debate eventually forced PWGSC to ask the National Research Council Flight Research Laboratory in Ottawa to review the SOR.
NRC’s test pilots and engineers concluded in their 2010 report that the SOR effectively limited the RCAF’s options by, among other things, specifying an “off the shelf” aircraft which might require extensive modifications. Nor did they like the SOR’s specification of an unrefueled range of 1,699 nautical miles, which they said was “inconsistent with the stated core objective of . . . maintaining or improving the SAR level of service.”
The front-runners from the outset have been two high-wing, twin-engine turboprops, similar in basic concept to the Buffaloes: the C-295, built in Spain by a subsidiary of EADS Airbus Military, and the C-27J Spartan, built in Italy by Alenia Aeronautica, a division of the Finmeccanica conglomerate. The Spartan initially seemed to be headed for a sole-source contract, but the Seville-based C-295 builder kept its aircraft in contention because of the delays in the procurement machinery.
Other potential contenders include more Hercules, potentially offering the RCAF operational economies through parts and service commonality, and “remanufactured” Buffaloes from British Columbia-based Viking Air Ltd., which contends that incorporation of new technologies into a DHC-5NG “next generation” Buffalo is viable. The C-27J’s engine, propeller and flight deck equipment is Hercules-based, but the DHC-5NG would use the latest commercial technologies, including the engine/propeller combination from Bombardier’s DHC-8 Q400.
The only other potential contender which could meet the program’s requirement for a rear ramp is the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor from Bell-Boeing. Unit costs can be expected to be higher than conventional fixed-wing challengers, but program spokesman Bob Carrese insists that there are obvious economies to having one aircraft capable of doing both the “search” and “rescue” parts of the mission.
Another option which apparently is still being considered is “alternate service delivery” (ASD) or partial privatization of SAR. It has obvious appeal to the federal government, as it moves to trim its deficit by having departments and agencies cut spending by as much as 10 per cent. That opens up possibilities such as company-owned and operated aircraft, perhaps with one or two RCAF crewmembers, or possibly government-owned but privately-operated aircraft.
