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MoD's progress in fielding Chinook helicopters criticised

04/06/2008

The Ministry of Defence's (MoD) progress in fielding the Chinook Mk3 helicopters has been criticised in a National Audit Office (NAO) report today.

The report claims that the delays have made the shortage of helicopters supporting overseas operations even worse.

Had the MoD been quicker to progress the technical project designed to make the Mk3 helicopters operational, known as Fix to Field, the subsequent reversion programme to convert them to Mk2 would have been unnecessary, the report claims.

The operational requirement to make more helicopters available to support operations in Afghanistan meant that in March 2007 a decision was made to cancel the Fix to Field project.

The NAO report claims the decision was made "quickly" and "not based on the levels of detailed analysis that would usually be expected for an investment of this magnitude".

The total cost of the Chinook Mk3s from their initial procurement through to the completion of the reversion programme will be around £422 million, the report claims.

Tim Burr, head of the NAO, said today: "Since 2001 the MoD has been trying to work out how to make the Chinook Mk3 helicopters available for operations. Its original Fix to Field project progressed very slowly.

"In 2007 changing operational imperatives meant that the department decided to start a new reversion project to make the helicopters operational more quickly, though with a lesser capability. The Chinook Mk3 story reemphasises the importance of timely decision making, clearly understanding requirements and proceeding purposefully to the solution."

In response, MoD minister Baroness Taylor said: "The Chinook is the most capable support helicopter in Afghanistan. Based on operational need, the reversion project will allow delivery of more Chinooks to theatre in the shortest time-frame.

"It is one of several steps being taken to increase helicopter lift capability for operations including the acquisition of new state of the art blades for Sea Kings. The total amount of flying time for all helicopters, including Chinooks, has increased by a third since March 2007."