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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 7, 2005 11:02:40 GMT 12
There was a news item the other day about the ministry of Defence making serious misjudgments in the purchasing process for the RNZN's new ships. here's a related story: tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/607777However, the thing I noticed on the news item i saw when it aired was the artists conception drawings of the smaller offshore patrol boats we're getting. They have helicopter decks on them. That is certainly a step in the right direction. I'm now wondering whether more Seasprites might be purchased for these shipsin the long run? has anyone been following the Navy shopping process? |
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Post by Bruce on Sept 7, 2005 13:43:13 GMT 12
I wonder whether the heli decks will be big enough for NH-90s? (Knowing the NZ MoD, Probably not....) because with the RNZAF seemingly content to keep flogging on with C130s, we're going to need the ships (the new Logistics vessel especially) to take them to where they are needed..... New Seasprites would seem to be a possibility though (although that may require common sense - we'll wait and see....)
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 7, 2005 18:05:19 GMT 12
Bruce said "we're going to need the ships (the new Logistics vessel especially)"
Hmm, that's what they said about HMNZS Charles Upham wasn't it?
Would the NH-90's that be much bigger than a Seasprite? The Kamans are a big helicopter in themselves. Hopefully provision is for a large deck.
I still find it difficult to justify the purchase of ships, full stop. Aircraft are so much more important for defence and for day to day operations. If any need arose for transporting large amounts of equipment, ie like a relief effort, the Government could easily lease a ship for the short term to cart it, rather than have a full time ship on staff as it were. Seems illogical when we lease aircraft rather than buy them, and we lease Air Force staff, and yet we buy ships which are so expensive to buy and keep. Backwards thinking. Why???
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Post by Bruce on Sept 8, 2005 8:24:04 GMT 12
Based on my models the NH90 is probably 15 - 20% bigger in rotor diameter than a Seasprite, so one would hope that was taken into consideration - having vessels incapable of working with our main general purpose helicopters seems stupid. The iroquois were capable of operating off the old leander Frigates (but couldnt be hangared).
A Logistics ship is amongst the batch of vessels being produced (in order to carry the LAVs, Trucks and NH90s that dont fit in a Herk) but We MUST get new transport aircraft as well - the New Orleans fiasco is an illustration of what can happen if Helicopters and ground forces cannot be deployed quickly enough in an emergency (although bureaucracy was the primary cause for the delays there, lack of logistics would be the main hold up in NZ). How many A400M's would one of the ships pay for?
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