Rescue Required: Canada’s Search-And-Rescue Aircraft Program
Related Stories: Americas - Other, EADS, Events, Issues - Political, Lobbying, Other Corporation, Specialty Aircraft
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The USA isn’t the only country whose SAR aircraft program is having a hard go of it lately. In 2004, Canada announced a program to replace its aging DHC-5 (CC-115) Buffalo (West Coast) and CC-130E/H Hercules (East Coast) search-and-rescue planes with at least 15 new aircraft. Some of the Canadian Forces’ CC-130s have already been grounded after flying 40,000 – 50,000 hours, and a contract has been signed for C-130J replacements.
The first SAR aircraft was to be delivered in 2006, with all deliveries complete by 2009. The competitors were a familiar duo: the Alenia C-27J Spartan with its speed advantage and C-130J compatibility, vs. the EADS-CASA C-295M with its longer fuselage and lower operating costs. The competition was put on hold, but 2009 looks set bring in a new C$ 3 billion RFP, with new competitors added to the mix. Or will it be a fixed single-choice process instead, per media reports?
Further reports indicate it may be a 3rd option: a rigged process, designed to look like a contest. The latest “Industry Day” announcement is doing nothing to quell those suspicions…
- The “Competitors”
- Contracts and Key Events [updated]
- Additional Readings
The “Competitors”
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De Havilland’s DHC-5 Buffalo and DHC-4 Caribou aircraft were uniquely well designed for short-field operations in difficult conditions. The Buffalo program actually won an Us Army competition for a light STOL airlifter, but service rivalries ended up killing the contract. Canada bought them, and so did a number of 3rd world countries who found its bush-plane design heritage appealing.
Buffalo production stopped in 1986, however, which is creating an issue with spare parts. Plans are currently in place to keep Canada’s 6 remaining Buffalos in the air until 2015, as their slow speed makes them ideal for searching the west coast’s difficult mountain ranges. Even so, early delivery of replacement SAR aircraft could result in early retirement for the Buffalos.
Under the 2004 program, there were 2 competitors. That may expand to 5 once Canada releases its new RFP, but only if that RFP is a real competition.
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One competitor is Alenia’s C-27J Spartan, which won the US Army’s Joint Cargo Aircraft light transport competition. This is ironic, because the Buffalo arose out of a similar US Army contract. First flight was in 1961, but the production contract was never awarded because the USAF took over fixed wing operations. In time, the USAF’s emphasis on larger aircraft, and the mismatch with front line needs, would spawn the competitions that culminated in JCA.
The C-27J “Baby Herc” has a wider cabin with a strengthened floor that can accommodate vehicles and heavier loads; offers a 325 knot cruising speed; would offer commonalities with the US Army during continental emergencies; and offers long-term cost savings via engine and other commonalities with Canada’s future C-130J Hercules.
Media reports indicate that the C-27J may be the government’s choice under an ACAN bid, which essentially picks the desired aircraft and then invites other competitors to make an offer. To date, ACAN experience is that the requirements are explicitly written to exclude many competitive choices. There is also no appeal process comparable to the US GAO, which can hold the government to fair application of set criteria and review procurement decisions. As such, ACAN bids by other manufacturers are generally a waste of time.
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EADS-CASA’s C-295M, is a stretched version of the smaller CN-235. The CN-235MP variant is a popular maritime search and patrol aircraft, and a modified version serves the US Coast Guard as the HC-144A “Ocean Sentry” surveillance aircraft. The larger C-295M offers substantial long-term savings by costing less to fly and maintain than the C-27J; may offer interesting cross-over possibilities by leveraging the HC-144A’s “mission pallet” approach; has a longer cabin that can carry more pallets of cargo or medical litters, or offer more crew room; reportedly offers better range; and has a cruising time of 12 hours. Built-in air-to-air refueling capability can extend even that mission time, to the limit of the crew’s endurance.
That last set of performance statistics may prove especially appealing, given Canada’s vast distances. The tradeoff is a cruise speed of just 260 KTAS, which also has implications for long-range rescue attempts. On the other hand, EADS-CASA says that Portugal picked the C-295 because it outperformed its competitor in the kind of long-term low-speed, low-level handling that are required for mountain search operations on Canada’s west coast.
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Lockheed Martin attempted to submit a 3rd aircraft in the USA’s JCA competition, but their bid was denied. That plane was a compact version of the C-130J Hercules. Now that Canada has confirmed itself as a C-130J customer, Lockheed Martin may seek to take advantage of the industrial offset partnerships it is already creating in order to meet the “Canada First” 100% industrial offset rule, and offer Canada a C-130J-SAR.
Advantages in this SAR role would include size, speed, range and cruising time, C-130 class transport capabilities in an emergency, and full commonality with Canada’s new C-130J fleet. Its 4 engines create a tradeoff, however, as fuel economy and hence operating costs would suffer.
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The 4th and 5th potential competitors are Canadian entries. Bombardier’s Q-series/ Dash 8 has been modified for use as a maritime patrol and search aircraft, and serves with similar organizations like Australia’s CoastWatch. The aircraft’s lack of a rear ramp is probably its biggest obstacle to its acceptance in a full search and rescue role.
The Buffalo itself is the 5th option. Viking Air Ltd. now holds the type certificate for most of DeHavilland’s aircraft, including the DHC-5 Buffalo. The firm has recently enjoyed success with its revival of the legendary DHC-6 Twin Otter, and has offered to upgrade the existing CC-115 fleet, while producing new aircraft for the SAR program at its manufacturing facilities in Calgary and Victoria. The Buffalo’s old GE CT64-410-3 engines would be replaced by Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PW150 used in Bombardier’s Dash 8s and many other regional aircraft, and the planes would receive digital avionics suites and FLIR systems derived from the Series 400 Twin Otter.
The Buffalo has excellent short takeoff capabilities and excels at slow-speed, all-weather flying, which is why it performs SAR on Canada’s mountainous west coast. The Viking proposal would offer Canada the largest industrial benefit, with nearly 100% Canadian content for the buy and additional potential for exports. The DHC-5NG’s speed is projected to improve from 235 knots to to 300 knots, with carrying capacity and profile that is comparable to the C-295M. The DHC-5NG’s risks include development risk, and the the risk of an aircraft type that could wind up being unique to Canada, with all of the attendant support and upgrade burdens that imples.
Contracts and Key Events
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July 9/09: Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese notes that the July 14/09 Industry Day for the C$ 3 billion FWSAR project is scheduled to be only 90 minutes long, and wonders if the fix is still in:
”...only setting aside 90 minutes for his presentation and to deal with all the questions from industry that might be associated with a $3 billion project has some cynics in the defence industry world suggesting not much has changed on this project. They expect the same details from four years ago to be trotted out and polished up as something new, with the usual “fair and open competition” buzz words to be thrown in for good measure.
But again, they are very cynical about this project.
It also doesn’t look from the details the government has posted that Industry Canada and Public Works officials will be taking part in this industry day.”
Jan 20/08: The Ottawa Citizen’s David Pugliese reports that political considerations are spawning proposals for a different procurement strategy as the purchase recommendation is prepared for Cabinet – but not for a different outcome:
“Nothing would change, I’m told. The C-27J would be selected but there would be the appearance of a competition. The way the requirements are now set, the Airbus Military (CASA-EADS) C-295 would be automatically excluded. Same goes for Canadian company Viking and its proposal for new build Buffalos. One way a competition could be held, however, is if Lockheed Martin were to bid the C-130J for FWSAR…. [but] C-130J would be disqualified because the FWSAR budget would not allow for the purchase of enough of the aircraft.”
Dec 23/08: Viking Air CEO David Curtis issues an open letter, offering to refurbish existing Buffalo aircraft and re-start production in order to fill the government’s SAR needs. An excerpt from the letter’s reproduction on the CASR site:
“The requirement to replace the present [SAR] fleet is not based on a lack of ability for the Buffalo to do the job, but simply due to the aging of the aircraft. By breathing new life into the program, the DND can continue to operate the best-suited aircraft, safely, reliably, and with a huge reduction in acquisition and direct operating costs [including aircrew / maintenance personnel training, airframe spares, etc.]..... Canadian taxpayers will receive a proven, low-risk product with huge economic benefits and cost savings, thus allowing the DND to either acquire more aircraft for search and rescue or reallocate the funds to other projects within DND.”
See also: “DHC-5NG – a New-Production Buffalo Compared with C-27J.”
Dec 18/08: Reports begin to surface that the Canadian DND plans to issue an Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) for the SAR requirement, specifying Alenia’s C-27J as its preferred type. Martin Sefzig, Airbus’s director of Canadian programs, is surprised when the Ottawa Citizen asks him about it:
“We’re caught off guard by the current initiative calling for an ACAN… After five years of no evaluation and very little discussion, they now go for an ACAN. No aircraft has been tested. Why?”
The move would have to survive Cabinet scrutiny, and the unstable state of Canada’s Parliament makes that far less likely. Handing out a manufacturing contract that creates jobs in Italy, while shutting out Canadian competitors and creating controversies in Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia, isn’t a winning move if one’s political margins are as thin as the current Harper government’s. Time will tell. See also: Canada.com | Halifax Chronicle-Herald op-ed | The Torch | Flight International.
Dec 13/08: Canada’s Defence Minister Peter MacKay is quoted as saying that a proposal to replace the CC-115 Buffalos is on his desk, and ready to be presented to the federal cabinet in early 2009. He will ask the Cabinet to approve up to $3 billion for the project, and says “I hope to move very early in the new year toward procurement.”
The purchase of 15 new aircraft is now expected to cost around C$ 1.5 billion, with an additional C$ 1.5 billion tacked on for a 20-year service contract. Toronto Star.
June 4/07: Aero News reports that the Canadian SAR competition has now been pushed forward 4 years, and quotes Canadian Air Force spokesman Capt. Jim Hutcheson as saying that there isn’t even a projected delivery date any more.
“It is acknowledged that there are other government priorities, other departmental priorities that are being pursued right now, largely associated with operations in Afghanistan…. We’ll most likely use the Buffalo and the Herc beyond 2010 until the new aircraft arrive…. How much beyond, they’re looking at options that will cover that range.”
Giuseppe Giordo, President of Alenia North America in Washington, DC, notes that negotiations are ongoing and the first CC-130Js aren’t expected until 2009 at the earliest. He contends that the funds could be used now to finance SAR recapitalization.
Canada’s Conservative Party is a minority government, which means it can be brought down at any time via a vote of no-confidence by the other political parties. The deferral of this purchase is likely to prove contentious in many regions of Canada, which is the world’s second largest country and has large remote areas that are thinly-populated but important to its economy.
Stay tuned.
Jan 3/07: Canada’ Globe and Mail newspaper reports that:
“A DND document obtained by The Globe and Mail confirmed that only one aircraft is being considered as a “viable bidder” for the search-and-rescue contract. The project is worth about $3-billion, including the maintenance of the aircraft over 20 years…. Defence contracts are among the most lucrative deals the government signs, and if the Spartan is bought, it will illustrate a growing government habit of signing multibillion-dollar deals without accepting competing bids.”
Additional Readings
- Alenia – C-27J Canadian SAR competition site
- DID Spotlight – Replacing Canada’s Failing CC-130s: 17 C-130Js
- Lockheed Martin – Canadian CC-130J transport advocacy site
- CBC News In Depth – Search and Rescue. Details the Canadian Forces’ current SAR assets.
