By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I suspected that those columnists and reporters of the national dailies in the Philippines who acrimoniously “exposed” and scathingly commented the supposed anomalies on the procurement of the refurbish 21 1967 to 1981 era’s combat helicopters’ UH-1seem to be part of a bigger extortion ring where these alleged conspirators took orders.
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Some of the 21 German made Dornier UH-1D combat helicopters for
the Philippine Air Force. PHOTO CREDIT. TIM O. MACEREN |
News report said a certain Rhodora Alvarez, a brass at the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Manila, allegedly threatened and attempt to mulct a cut of 15% from the P 1.2 billion contracts the Philippine government entered with supplier Rice Aircraft Services Inc. and Eagle Copters (Rice for brevity).
Rice already reported to the media the extortion attempt.
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In the following paragraphs I would be citing and answering many the accusations of my colleague in the media, who shot from the hips, without the benefit of clicking Google and reading in Wikipidia on what is the difference of a Bell UH-1H to a UH-1D. They, at the expense of responsible journalism, gun a blazing just condemned the government and Rice on the anomalous, disadvantageous, onerous, Whatchamacallit contract.
1) President Benigno Aquino III was duped into believing and even mentioning in his 2012 State of the Nation Address (SONA) (son of a gun, I was there!) that the 21 helicopters were UH-1H not UH-1D.
My Answer: Records will show that even the president mentioned” UH-1H” (not “UH-1” as media fora espoused) in his SONA what the earlier Invitation to Bid for the acquisition of the 21 refurbished choppers was about “UH-1” which we know could either be UH-1H or the same if not the superior variant’s UH-1D.
Here’s the difference:
UH-1H was built by Bell U.S based company in 1966 to 1970s were many of them saw action in the Vietnam War. UH-1D was built by Bell licensed German based company’s Dornier (that “D” was not “Darna” nor “Dornier” but Deutschland, another name of Germany) from 1967 to 1981. The West German company built 352 UH-1Ds between those periods. According to the
helis.com in spite of their designation they were standard H models powered by the T53-L13 engine.
Both helicopters are based on the same 205 platform. It means both can use the same spare parts.
Readers, by the way, should not be confused with the older and smaller Bell UH-1D, which was based on the 204 platform and built from 1956.
The advantage of UH-1 in the project contract with Rice was the bidder could actually bid using other variants of the UH-1 series aside from the standard UH-1H being used by the Philippine Air Force. That is as long as the other variant quality is similar with the old PAF’s work horse UH-IH.
2) UH-1D not Operational
Department of National Defense (DND) confirmed, as quoted by the media, that they were not operational upon delivery.
Only eight of a total 21 helicopters were accepted by the PAF as operational, while the rest are still being assembled, checked, tested, and will undergo acceptance later on. The DND already confirmed that they have given Rice and its partner Eagle Copter, under the pain of paying monthly liquidated damages (LD) under the ToR that runs to millions of pesos, up to April 15 to complete the turnover for the balance units. Fernando Manalo, DND Undersecretary for Finance, Munitions, Installations and Materiel, also said that the government could reneged the contract if Rice could not honour its promised to make the remaining 13 choppers air worthy come beyond April 15.
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UH-1D Super Delta upgraded version while undergoing flight testing at Clark
Air Base, Pampanga. The Fastfin system is visible from this angle.
PHOTO CREDIT. TIM O. MACEREN |
3. 21 German made Choppers not reliable as Spare Parts are Obsolete and Scarce
My Answer: If we are going to follow these arguments, the much older UH-1Hs, still used by the air forces of the U.S, South America, South East Asia, and the Philippines, are already obsolete. But everybody knows how reliable the UH-1Hs as these countries have been using them with gusto and efficiency. If UH-1H can do the yeoman jobs of the military, how can the less old UH-1Ds superiorly made by the Germans?
Since the two UH-1 choppers are the same, their maintenance and spare parts are interchangeable.
Although the German maker Dornier folded shop a long time ago, U.S Company Bell still manufacture parts and service support for the UH-1D
4) No protective parts like intake screen and other features that will allow them to fly under Philippine conditions.
As what MaxDefense’s Administrator the prolific military genius Max Montero said:
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German Hueys operated in equally or more extreme environments like Somalia than the PAF’s Hueys. Making that stupid comment is like making fun of the Germans. Aside from that, this item has a replaceable accessory that can be easily acquired, and is interchangeable with PAF’s UH-1H Hueys”.
5) UH-1Ds are incompatible with night vision goggles and lacked crash-worthy and self-sealing fuel cells.
My Answer, er, Rice Aircraft Services Inc. Vice President and Philippine country manager Phil Kemp’s answer:
