Helicopters grounded in MoD fiasco

The Ministry of Defence is failing to keep enough helicopters in the air because of maintenance problems.

MoD cost-cutting has forced RAF search-and-rescue teams routinely to cannibalise working helicopters to keep others airborne, the National Audit Office has revealed.

When Sea Kings were deployed to Sierra Leone, so were all available spare engines, grounding some search- and- rescue helicopters. Only 55 per cent of helicopters intended for last year's Saif Sareea wargame exercise in Oman were serviceable-because of delays in sending the spares needed.

The Defence Logistics Organisation, the MoD's equipment maintenance arm, said it was working to improve its performance on helicopters.

NAO public accounts committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "The MoD should ask itself how Bristow helicopters manages perfectly well with around 30 spare engines per 100 helicopters while the MoD has 150 spares per 100."