RAF Helicopter Delays 'Could Have Put Lives At Risk'

An eight-year hold-up in getting new Chinook helicopters has cost millions of pounds and could have put lives at risk, a report has concluded.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been criticised by MPs for failing to bring the eight helicopters - which were ordered 14 years ago - into service.

The Mark III Chinooks helicopters remained grounded in 2001 due to cockpit computer system problems.

They had been ordered from Boeing in 1995, with a modified cockpit computer system in order to reduce costs.

However, they have never been able to fly as the MoD failed to secure access to key software source code.

Last year it was also announced the helicopters would be downgraded to Mark 2 models, for use in Afghanistan in 2010.

The cost of the programme shot up from £259m to more than £422m - more than doubling the price of the aircraft.

The Public Accounts Committee of backbench MPs have described the case as "a catalogue of errors from the start". It also warned the UK forces lives have been put at risk as a result.

"The absence of these helicopters has meant that British troops in Afghanistan have had to make do with fewer helicopters and make an increased number of dangerous journeys by road," the report said.

"These delays have potentially put the lives of British service personnel at greater risk."

It also criticised the decision to add night vision equipment to RAF Chinook MkIIs had been linked to two crashes.

"The programme was hamstrung from the start," says committee chairman Edward Leigh.

"The appalling decision to buy the aircraft without securing access to their software source code meant the MoD could not show that the helicopters were safe to fly.

"It was bad decision making to the point of irresponsibility."

Defence Minister Quentin Davies, however, said the fourth report on the Mark 3 programme offered "nothing new".

He added: "We have fundamentally changed our methods of doing business, but this episode will remain a salutary example to us all.

"I am sure that given the problems that existed with this contract, the decision to convert these eight aircraft to a support helicopter role was the right one."

Mr Davies added: "Our priority is on giving military commanders in Afghanistan the helicopters they need, and we have already increased flying hours and helicopter numbers in Afghanistan by 60% over the last two years."

In addition the MoD has deployed upgraded Sea King helicopters to Afghanistan and acquired six new Merlin aircraft from Denmark to increase our Merlin fleet by 25%.

(JM/BMcC)