MoD accused of Chinook 'cock-up'

This is not a new story but the National Audit Office report is due out in public today on the £422m waste of money that are 8 Chinook Mk3 helicopters that have never seen active service despite being ordered in 1995. In 2004, an NAO report described the purchase as

"one of the worst examples of equipment procurement"

it had seen.

It is worth remembering that these 8 Chinooks (now being converted back to Mk2's) are amongst the 14 helicopters that were promised as additional support for our Troops in Iraq/Afghanistan by the current Labour Government in 2007. These are not now due in service until late 2009/10, which based upon the prior history is perhaps a little bit of wishful thinking. A written ministerial Statement on May 20th 2008 has more details.

For a good discussion on the problems and issues see here.

Also worth looking here to see what helicopters we have available for use in the Forward Fleet. This shows that only roughly 60% of helicopters are available for active use. Table is produced below.

Helicopter Type	Departmental total (total fleet)	Number available (forward fleet)	Number current and qualified pilots
Chinook	48	29	109
Merlin	70	41	108
Puma	45	34	95
Sea King	135	69	223

For the purposes of MOD reporting, the definition used for the number of helicopters available for use is the number in the Forward Fleet. This figure excludes any aircraft undergoing programmed upgrades, major repair or awaiting disposal.

BBC NEWS | UK | MoD accused of Chinook 'cock-up'