Hercules upgrade gets the go-ahead

BY MICHAEL BERRY AND BLAIR ENSOR

Upgrade work on the Royal New Zealand Air Force's Hercules will go ahead in Blenheim.

A 50-strong team of private contractors and government staff will do most of the work at Base Woodbourne, Minister of Defence Wayne Mapp announced today.

He said he hoped some of the people who lost their jobs at Safe Air earlier this year could be re-employed for the project.

The $254 million C-130 overhaul project was contracted to L-3 Systems in the United States in 2005, but has run years late because of problems with software to run the modifications.

L-3 Systems, the principal contractor for the project, was developing the software.

The software was still not ready, but was expected to be installed in two of the five aircraft by the end of the year, Dr Mapp said.

Blenheim engineering firm Safe Air was the subcontractor responsible for outfitting the aircraft and geared up for the first aircraft in August 2008.

It pulled out in December last year, because the aircraft didn't arrive, leaving the Government without an outfit contractor.

"Safe Air found they could step out of a contract with no penalties, which was problematic in its own right, and we had to carry it [the contract]," Dr Mapp said.

Safe Air had stockpiled two million aircraft parts needed to upgrade the three remaining Hercules at the hangar it leased from the Ministry of Defence.

The Government had been talking to L-3 and Safe Air for seven months to find a way to complete the work on the aircraft. The solution was for the Government to take over the overhaul contract, he said.

Most of the work will be done in Blenheim in the same hangar Safe Air had planned to use.

"We've had people inquiring with us around the country, but the first port of call is the place with the experience and equipment," Dr Mapp said.

A team of about 50 ministry staff and private contractors would be created to complete the work, some of which would be done in other places.

After the cancellation of the contract, Air New Zealand subsidiary Safe Air underwent a huge restructuring, laying off 77 of its 323 Blenheim-based staff.

Some people would have moved to other jobs and regions, but the ministry hoped to employ as many as possible, Dr Mapp said.

The team would be headed by a Blenheim-based planning and supervisory engineer.

"The bulk of the work will be done by the people the Crown will employ, but there will still be some bits that Safe Air will have to do [because they have the expertise]," he said.

Air New Zealand spokesman Mark Street said Safe Air was supporting the ministry.

- The Marlborough Express