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Australia cancels contract for US Seasprite helicopters
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia on Wednesday cancelled a one billion dollar (930 million US) contract for US-made Seasprite helicopters following a review of the troubled project.
The Australian navy ordered 11 of the anti-submarine and anti-shipping helicopters in 1997 but technical problems meant they were never fully operational and the fleet was indefinitely grounded in 2006.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon ordered a review of the project after the centre-left Labor Party won office last November as part of a wider examination of a series of controverial military acquisitions by the previous government.
Fitzgibbon said he had little option but to cancel the project, which had been criticised by experts for trying to install 21st century technology into airframes built in the 1960s.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080305/wl_asia_afp/australiausmilitarytrade
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia on Wednesday cancelled a one billion dollar (930 million US) contract for US-made Seasprite helicopters following a review of the troubled project.
The Australian navy ordered 11 of the anti-submarine and anti-shipping helicopters in 1997 but technical problems meant they were never fully operational and the fleet was indefinitely grounded in 2006.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon ordered a review of the project after the centre-left Labor Party won office last November as part of a wider examination of a series of controverial military acquisitions by the previous government.
Fitzgibbon said he had little option but to cancel the project, which had been criticised by experts for trying to install 21st century technology into airframes built in the 1960s.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080305/wl_asia_afp/australiausmilitarytrade
