Chinooks grounded because MoD "wanted to fit its own software"

Reports claim ministry decided not to purchase Boeing avionics - a decision that has left helicopters grounded for 10 years

The eight Chinooks have been unused by the RAF

Eight Chinook helicopters that have been grounded and left unused for 10 years were the victim of a Ministry of Defence (MoD) decision to design its own avionics software instead of buying from the craft’s manufacturer Boeing, according to reports.

The choppers were purchased in 1995, but have been left in hangars ever since because the contract with Boeing did not specify that software documentation and codes for avionics systems should be analysed in accordance with UK defence standards.

As a result, it was not possible to demonstrate that the helicopter’s flight instruments met the required standards. So, instead of providing heavy-lift capacity to British troops, the helicopters have spent 10 years in RAF storage.

Painfully slow progress has been made in downgrading the Mk3 Chinooks to enable them to be certified under a since-abandoned "fix to field" programme involving five years of negotiations with Boeing. None of the craft has yet been put into service. When they are ready to fly – due to be next year - they will only be operated as basic versions, not the high-tech machines intended when they were ordered.

The cost of the helicopters has soared 70 per cent to £422m, or £52.5m each. Alternatives available when the order was placed "may have been cheaper", according to a Public Accounts Committee report earlier this year.

Now The Times has reported that the MoD opted not to purchase Boeing’s software for £40m because it wanted to develop its own version.

Sources quoted in The Times said: “The MoD and RAF said they wanted to fit their own avionics software. Boeing told them that they would have trouble integrating their software, but the MoD believed it could do it better than Boeing. The MoD found it couldn’t design the software for the Mk3s, as Boeing had warned.”

Computing revealed in January 2008 that the government had been forced to spend £90m to rectify the software problems that grounded the fleet.

The MoD has denied that the cause of the problem was any reluctance to buy the Boeing software.

An MoD spokesman told the Press Association: "The Times' articles, suggest the MoD deliberately omitted to request cockpit avionic software for the eight Chinook Mk3 helicopters in a bid to save money. This is simply not true. We have repeatedly admitted we have made errors in the specification of the software package within the contract. This has already been subject of much parliamentary and media comment."