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with the tenders for the new helicopters due in tommorrow do any of you have any good intel on what types are gonna be offered?i say gonna not"likely" as we have allready thrashed that one to death
we were up in a blackhawk the other day and they are the dogs
b*****ks!hope they choose well.
was talken to somebody in the know yesterday form the dod
so far there are three contenders
sikorsky
agusta westland
eurocopter
the only other info i could get was that eurocopter offered the super puma/
cougar
Just over 24 hours before the tenders are opened. How long before a decision is made? How long till we see new helis?
Cougar is an odd choice from Eurocopter,but better than a dauphin.
Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.
cant wait. The Indo today said the deal was worth 50million euro, either they`ve got it wrong(not unlikely) or we`re getting newbuild blackhawks or cougars.
Education isn't everything, for a start it isn't an elephant
A TIGHTLY-fought battle began yesterday to select the first armed helicopters to fly with the Irish Air Corps in a deal worth more than €50m.
But with the debacle over the previous attempt to buy medium-lift helicopters worth €100m still fresh in everyone's minds, the Department of Defence is treading cautiously with this tender for up to eight helicopters.
America's Sikorsky, part of the giant United Technologies group, won the last contract. However, amid threats of legal action by losing competitors, the contract for up to five helicopters was cancelled by Defence Minister Michael Smith, ostensibly as part of cutbacks.
The US company - still reeling from the cancellation of its $39bn Commanche scout helicopter programme by the US military which it had developed with Boeing - is again in the frame this time around. It is offering its famous Blackhawk assault transport helicopter and its S-76 model.
Other familiar faces include British-Italian firm Agusta-Westland. It will submit its A-109 helicopter and its new larger AB-139 chopper for the new contract.
Eurocopter is likely to propose its EC-135 and EC-145 or its Cougar helicopter.
At stake is an initial order for six helicopters, two light machines mainly for training and four utility helicopters, with an option on two more.
The utility helicopters will each be able to carry eight heavily-armed soldiers from the Army Ranger Wing. The aircraft will each be armed with two GPMG machine-guns and a range of other weapons, and will be available for a variety of other tasks.
The acquisition marks a sea change in the thinking of the Irish Defence Forces which, heavily committed to aiding the Gardai against terrorists in the last thirty years of the Troubles, largely ignored air mobile concepts using helicopters pioneered in the Vietnam War and adopted by virtually every other army since then.
Now, with the demise of its search and rescue role which has been privatised, the Air Corps will have a clearer task of supporting the Army by moving troops and equipment in small numbers.
Don Lavery
When I breeze into that city, people gonna stoop and bow.
All them women gonna make me, teach 'em what they don't know how
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