Defence Procurement – Maritime Helicopter Project – Updated to July 2004 Politics, Procurement Practices, and Procrastination: the Quarter-Century Sea King Helicopter Replacement Saga Stephen Priestley, CASR Researcher [ Update: This In Detail article was first published in June 2003. A decade later, the CH-124 Sea King maritime helicopter is still in service. In 2004, the CH-148 Cyclone was chosen as a replacement. However, it is anyone's guess as to when operational Cyclones will be available to replace the clapped-out CF Sea Kings. How have we arrived at this sorry state of affairs? Peter MacKay, the current MND has described the Maritime Helicopter Project the "worst procurement" effort in Canadian history. In hopes of detecting root causes for maladies of that Maritime Helicopter Project procurement, this article traces the origins of the project and the decisions made by both DND and the various governing parties beginning a staggering 36 years ago.] Part 2 — In the Beginning ... the Search for a Sea King Replacement 
It is not our purpose to simply provide a chronology of the Canadian Forces' Maritime Helicopter Project – the begats have already been adequately covered elsewhere. Nor is it our
intention to embark upon lengthy technical descriptions of equipment involved. Instead, the major milestones of the MHP – and its predecessors – will be
examined with an eye on the options present at each point in the decision-making process. The benefits of hindsight makes second-guessing DND planners and ministers of Defence rather
unfair. Still, we can judge decision-makers by how well they dealt with the predictable political realities including the cabinet room competitions, budget contraints and other economic
factors, changes in the geo-political situation or general strategic landscape as well as shifts in the mood of the citizenry, and short-term opportunities for procurement of equipment.1977 — the Sea King Replacement (SKR) Project In the mid-'70s, the Canadian Forces embarked upon a mid-life modernization and rebuild program for its then decade-old CH-124 Sea King shipboard helicopters. The key mission for CF Sikorsky Sea Kings was anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and the opportunity was taken to upgrade all onboard ASW avionics. At about the same time, DND began to explore options for an eventual replacement for the Sea King. This is common practice (and highly prudent) but Canada's navy had an additional incentive. For ASW duties, Sea Kings are flown from the helicopter decks of warships. These helicopters are therefore regarded as an intregal part of the ASW capabilities of those vessels. At the time, DND was planning to update its fleet with new, specialized submarine-hunters, the Canadian Patrol Frigates. So symbiotic is the relationship between ship and ASW helicopter that the proposed Sea King replacement was simply regarded as a component of this CPF Project. Passing the Buck on Spending the Bucks for a Sea King Replacement 
Once DND's Canadian Patrol Frigate project had begun, it quickly became apparent that the total implemention costs would be staggering. By 1978, DND had decided to
'calve off ' the Sea King replacement requirement from their larger CPF project to make the frigates more fiscally palatable. The CPF project – with all of its complicated
systems – would also be made slightly more manageable by making one integrated system, its ASW helicopter, a new and completely separate project. [1] There is also a bit of
budgetary sleight-of-hand here. Canadian Forces helicopters are operated by Air Force flight crews regardless of where those aircraft operate from. So, separating the ASW helicopter from the
CPF project also had the bonus (at least from the Navy's point of view) of shifting part of the responsibility for replacing their Sea King shipboard ASW helicopters over on
to Air Command.[1] For the Navy, there was an unintended consequence to this decision. With no helicopter type chosen as a new shipboard aircraft, Canadian Patrol Frigates would be designed with hangars sized to in-service CH-124s. Once a replacement Maritime Helicopter was chosen, hangars had to be rebuilt to accommodate the larger aircraft. Next in this In Detail series > Part 3 – Air Command Listens to its Power Animal CASR | In Detail | MHP Series Index | CH-124 Sea King | CH-148 Cyclone |