KAMAN INTENTA VENDER LOS SH-2 QUE RECHAZÓ AUSTRALIA/KAMAN TO SELL 11 SH-2

La compañia está esforzándos en vender 11 SH-2G Super Seasprite modernizados, que permanecen almacenados en las instalaciones de Kaman en Bloomfield campus, a pesar de haber sido recibidos y rechazados por Australia. El presidente de Kaman, los ha valorado a un tercio de lo que costaría un helicóptero moderno actual.
Australia pagó unos 600 millones USD por los helicópteros, incluyendo repuestos, simulador y soporte técnico. Pero fueron devueltos por no cumplir las estipulaciones marcadas en el contrato respecto al software, sin recuperar gran parte del dinero. Esto fue reconocido por Kaman, que culpó a un subcontratista, aunque dice que los trabajos ya han sido finalizados. Australia tambien desconfiaba de la seguridad del modelo, pero Kaman alegó que Estados Unidos ha operado sin problemas versiones mas antiguas durante años sin problemas graves. Además, Kaman señala que Australia no disponía de los buques adecuados para operar el SH-2.
De todas formas ,Kaman perdonó mas de 30 millones USD a Australia, además de comprometerse a devolver otros 25, vendiera los aparatos o no.
En otoño de 2008, un SH-2 fue mostrado en el Black Sea Defense and Aerospace Exhibition and Conference, en Bucarest, Rumania. en otoño de 2008, para advertir de la disponibilidad.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The company is struggling to resell a batch of its own helicopters, 11 sophisticated, just-barely secondhand SH-2G Super Seasprites. Today, ten of the submarine-hunting aircraft rest side by side in a warehouse on Kaman's 200-acre Bloomfield campus, their 44-foot main rotors stowed in airtight canisters and other parts packed and neatly stacked beside them. (The 11th, a demonstration aircraft, is kept elsewhere on the campus.)
It's a rare case in which a global aerospace supplier is marketing the same military equipment a second time — after the government of Australia backed out of a long-sealed deal — and can offer it almost immediately.
Sal Bordonaro, president of Kaman's helicopters division, put the price at "one-third the cost of a comparable aircraft."
The Australians paid about $600 million for the aircraft, including spare parts, a flight simulator, service support and other materials. But after a long dispute, Australia reached a settlement in early 2008 to return all 11 aircraft — without recouping much of its investment.
Australia complained that Kaman failed to deliver the aircraft's advanced software systems on schedule. Kaman acknowledges this, attributing the delay to a subcontractor, and says the work has since been completed.
The company denies that the aircraft were ever unsafe, as some in Australia alleged, and Kaman said the U.S. military operated an earlier version for decades without any serious problems. The company also pointed out that Australia never acquired the type of naval ships that were to serve as the Seasprites' platform.
As part of the 2008 settlement, Kaman forgave more than $30 million that Australia still owed, and promised to pay the nation about $25 million regardless of whether Kaman is able to resell the aircraft.
Kaman took a Seasprite to the Black Sea Defense and Aerospace Exhibition and Conference in Bucharest, Romania, in the fall of 2008 to advertise its availability, and has since entertained potential buyers in Bloomfield for test flights.