Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has signed a ten-year €500 million contract for Irish Coast Guard search and rescue which will involve leasing “new generation” Sikorsky S 92 aircraft.
The contract with CHC Helicopter was signed by Mr Dempsey today at Moyvalley, Co Kildare, when he predicted that over 20 new posts would be created at the Irish Coast Guard bases in Dublin, Shannon, Sligo and Waterford, currently employing over 130 in total.
CHC holds the current contract, and the new agreement will run from July 2012 to 2022, with an option to extend to 2025 on a year by year basis.
Mr Dempsey said that the company had “an excellent record in delivering search and rescue (SAR) services to our Coast Guard”.
“The contract provides for helicopters that will fly to the scene of the mission faster. They find the vessels or persons in the water more efficiently using better search, surveillance and tracking tools. This will provide better medical facilities onboard and return people in danger to safety in the shortest possible time,” he said.
Medical evacuations for island and remote communities, mountain rescue, and emergency aero-medical transfer in support of the HSE would also be provided by the new aircraft, he said.
“Last winter’s flooding response provided a practical example of the value and diversity of our SAR Helicopter service,” he said.
Mr Dempsey said that the Department of Defence had been consulted in the three-year lead-up to signing the new contract, but the Air Corps was “not in a position to deliver a contract by 2012”.
Involving the Air Corps now at this stage would also involve purchasing aircraft at an estimated cost of €350 million, Mr Dempsey said. The Air Corps was withdrawn from search and rescue by former defence minister Michael Smith in 2004.
Under the new lease agreement, four new S 92 helicopters will be located at each of the four bases, with a fifth as back-up at Shannon. The first in the fleet will be commissioned at Shannon in the second half of 2012.
The S 92A can travel at over 150 knots, it can hover in strong winds of up to 35 knots, and can land, shut down and start on ground sloping up to 10 degrees nose up or down, 13 degrees laterally.
Winch crew can stand, move and manoeuvre patients in its large cabin, and its active vibration control is said to provide better patient care and reduce crew fatigue.
It has a range of 270 nautical miles which can be extended to over 300 nautical miles if requires, allowing for 30 minutes on scene. It can lift over 20 survivors at maximum range.
Its all-weather capabilities include a rotor ice protection system which allows flight in icing conditions of up to 10,000 feet.
Irish Coast Guard director Chris Reynolds said it was “essential” that the State organisation had the “right stepped increase in capabilities” over the next decade. CHC Ireland managing director Mark Kelly said that the improved service would include the ability to deliver a paramedic to any SAT incident within an hour anywhere on the coastline.
CHC Helicopter is the world’s largest offshore helicopter operator, providing civilian search and rescue in Ireland, Britain, Denmark, Norway and Australia.
It is part of the Soteria consortium which was favoured for a new SAR contract in Britain. This is currently under review as one of a number of projects being reviewed by the British Treasury following the general election.