As the government has decided that the Portuguese Air Force will be coordinating aerial fire fighting operations in the future, using military machines and overseeing private contracts for aircraft and helicopter assistance, the service will have to be provided with more helicopters – five more than those already on order.
The cost estimate for the additional hardware is €20.5 million and Air Force chiefs are dropping a note to this effect to the Minister of Defence ‘for his most kind consideration.’
The current helicopter tender, launched in May, has elicited applications from Leonardo in Italy and Airbus Defence and Space SAS, based in Toulouse, France.
Airbus has €300 million of earlier supply obligations to discharge in Portugal, specifically associated with the purchase of 12 Spanish C-295 aircraft (seven for tactical transport and five for maritime surveillance), acquired in 2008 for €274 million. The company agreed to spend €460 million on 'something Portuguese' so as to get the order.
It is not known what will happen to the current aerial fire-fighting equipment run by the National Civil Protection Authority, especially four of the six Russian-built Kamov helicopters that actually are able to take off. The two that were trouble from the start, happily can be scrapped.
The future of the contract with Everjets, which guarantees the availability of 25 aircraft until mid-2018, is under review with any link between this company and those setting light to the Portuguese countryside sure to be a contract breaker.
The five new helicopters to be ordered are to replace 18 old Alouette helicopters, operated by the Portuguese Air Force since 1963. These were found to be particularly useful in the Colonial Wars but the Alouette has been out of production since 1985 and spare parts now are rather hard to come by.
One small problem is that the new helicopters, when ordered, won’t arrive in Portugal until the second half of 2019 and any additional ones needed, will have similar lead times.
Another option is to buy second hand helicopters.
The U.K.’s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force are slimming down their fleets of 'Junglie' Sea King helicopters. These choppers are being sold off by Witham Specialist Vehicles which is offering a fleet of 30 Sea Kings, each can carry 27 people and lift about 6,000 pounds.
These helicopters are sitting at a Grantham airfield. Many are unusable but all some need are new engines.
Three Sea Kings are available for immediate delivery and are offered at €180,000 each. (here) Add the cost of Rolls Royce Gnome 1400-1 Turboshaft engines and the €20.5 million asked for by the Air Force can be reduced to a sensible amount and with no corrupt payments involved.
Comments
Indeed Denby. It beats sitting in my ground floor flat in Armacao de Pera reading the Daily Express thinking that Portugal is run by law abiding politicians. I presume you think Nigeria isn't corrupt either. Let me check if Ryan Air have a flight to Utopia and i'll send you a postcard when I get there.
Quoting Denby:
You are loosing the run of yourself now. Give yourself a nice break and head off to Utopia,I believe everything is perfect there.
If you have evidence of corruption you need to pass it on to the relevant Athority as they have the legal framework to deal with it.
Otherwise give it up as you are being extremely boring.
Or how about the ex mayor of a Silves or the entire Portimao Camaras or shall we start at the very top with the former PM Socrates. It's endemic this corruption. Not sure why you keep on defending it, mind you its part of doing business here I suppose.
Labyrinth and Marques that you have mentioned have already been investigated by the Police and are now going through the Court system. These are white collar crimes of fraud that the police and the legal system are dealing with at the moment and we will have to wait to see the outcome.
When I read about these items of news in the ADN I was given the impression that everyone in Portugal was involved in corruption. When in fact there is a very small group of people, mostly in business who are committing these crimes.
It is up to you to come forward with the names of the corrupt politicians and name their corrupt activities.
It is all very easy to say there is corruption in Portugal, but you cannot keep saying it without evidence. Now is your chance to prove that you have knowledge of these activities, name them and report it to the European Council Justice.
Why do I have to live here to make a factual statement on an AD article. I shall retract my comment if you can name a singular individual in or a department of the Portuguese Government that isn't corrupt. These are not moral people and the impact on the country as a whole is blatantly obvious.