The Opening sentence is straight away something is showing me that Dr Green is jumping the gun. "...the Defence shopping list includes nine maritime helicopters" For starters that is how many we have now yes, I do agree that he can count. However to say that we are only going to get 9 as replacement is unfounded. What I will say is it will have to be at least 9 helo's but possibly more.

The Royal New Zealand Navy now have more vessels capable of carrying and operating a helo and more vessels are coming with the Enhanced Sealift Vessel and the SOPV. Which he does mention however ...

x2 FFG
x2 OPV
x1 SOPV
x1 MRV
x1 Enhanced Sealift Vessel
x1 AOR
x1 DHV (No hanger operations)

That is 8 vessels that can carry out long term helo operations with 1 being the DHV able to carry out short term operations. Basically only leaving the 2 IPV's not capable of carrying a helo. We also have to remember the MRV and the Enhanced Sealift Vessel (ESLV) can and will be able to carry multiple helo's at any one time, these can be off set by the NH-90's & AW109 but we also have to remember that these versions of the NH-90 and AW109 are not marinised and really should be minimised use on board a sea going vessel and are limited on numbers as well, especially as the fleet gets older and more maintenance is required. While the DHV has no hanger she can still carry out short term helo operations on her own. And that is not even considering an out side change of a 3rd frigate (a very, very much debated outside chance and those that follow and know me know I wish to go back to a 4 frigate navy.)

With 8 airframes that  is basically realistically only 3 airframes available at any one time. Even if that number was upped to 9 (which is technically what we have as one is for spare parts)

The DCP-2019 states
Maritime Helicopter Replacement
199. The eight existing Seasprite SH-2G(I), the last of their type, will reach the end of their service lives in the late 2020s. A new fleet of maritime helicopters will be acquired in order to support the naval patrol, sealift and combat capabilities.

200. Maritime helicopters offer surveillance, air transport and combat capabilities. Initial thinking on the replacement helicopters will need to determine the primary role of the aircraft, to ensure they are appropriately suited to complement planned replacements for the patrol, sealift and combat capabilities.

Indicative dates:

Industry engagement commences – 2020
Request for tender – 2024
Introduction into Service – 2028
indicative capital cost - More than $1b

There is no mention of how many air frames, even the planners back here know more air frames will be required. Having the 2 sealift vessels means one will always (in theory) be available at any one time and may require multiple helo's to carry out her operation. Currently Canterbury goes in to a light maintenance period during the off cyclone season. There may come a time where where bother vessels require multiple helo's, as well as the frigates and HMNZS Aotearoa all at once. 

Let's now look at the rest of the article;
The article favors AW159 Wildcat, The original article labelled various images wrong, but that is neither here nor there... though it did through me a little. I have the feeling they were paid for this article. The request for tender is 2024, although industry engagement has probably already started.

Under the MH-60R Dr Greener says... and I quote "Fitted with Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, this is perhaps the major disadvantage in an ASuW role, as the Hellfire has a limited range of 8 km (the SH-2G(I) is fitted with the Penguin Mk2 Mod7 with a range of 34 kms). It could therefore meet the requirement stated in 2015 to (e) prosecute surface and sub-surface targets, but with limitations."

Are you kidding me... I mean are you kidding me, are you really that stupid. If the SH-60B Seahawk is are capable of launching the Penguin Missile I am pretty sure it would not take long to get the Romeo up to spec to do so. Just because a helo is only seen operating a type of missile does not mean it can not take any other and vise versa. It would not be difficult at all to add this to the list of weapons the Romeo can fire, considering they were able to SH-60B to fire and cleared to operate them.

I would also like to add while the DCP-19 doesn't mention any changes on Penguin missile upfront, however who is to say we are still operating them in 8/9 years time when the replacement helo's come online. They may be past their use by date by then who knows.

• How much for an enhanced sealift vessel?
• Other LHD operations
• Why do I think the Endurance 170 LHD is a good choice for the RNZN.
• Ship to Shore : Amphibious Support Ships in The The Asia-Pacific Region
• Options for the NZDF and RNZN 2nd enhanced Sealift vessel

The other issue he goes on about is the length of the Romeo, meaning they may not be able to operate from the two current OPV's but can from every other vessel, and most likely any future vessel. AW109 can still operate from the OPV's and it is not often that they are truly needed for patrols and are usually only required on resupply missions. The Aussies use the Romeo on their ANZAC's, and as stated are capable of landing on the MRV, AOR, and future ESLV.

By time the replacement helo's come on line the current OPV's will be in the process of being replaced with request for tender around 2027 and in service by 2032. So only a couple of years where if needed the OPV's can use the AW109.

My final note here is while currently there are a few operators around the world, there aren't that many for the Wildcat, and there have been issues with integration of various systems. While many of these issues will most likely be fixed it has not been received as well as its predecessor the Westland Lynx. The Romeo has a larger user base, and is a proven platform.

While I don't personally think the Wildcat would really fit the needs of the RNZN and has a few issues to sort this is sill 8 years away and request for tender still 4 years away. The RNZN need a multi-mission helo one that can be used in a variety of operations and the two game changers are the current MRV and ESLV the the missions required of the helo for the various operations from these two vessels. (including the MRV replacement). We would be the only ones in the area operating this airframe. While the Romeo we can tap in to the training, spare parts and upgrade programs etc of Aussie if needed. 

On a separate note the DCP points out that the budget is for the replacement maritime helicopters is more than $1b the Romeo was in 2012 worth $42.9 million  (48.5 million in  2020 dollars and then add inflation for 2027/8 dollars my guess around $55 million USD and roughly 80 million NZD  that is enough to get maybe 12 SH-60R ... but like the Enhanced Sealift Vessel we have to take note of the More than 1 Billion.

The Wildcat AW159 on the other hand in 2020 dollars would around $62 Million and 2025/26 (when contract is signed) $69 Million each you would get 14 Wildcat's from the 1 Billion (or more).  Please remember that this is onan estimate and that there so many variables that can put this figure way out.

FFG - Frigate, Guided Missile. (RNZN with CAMM)
OPV - Offshore Patrol Vessel
SOPV - Southern Ocean Patrol Vessel
MRV - Multi Role Vessel
ESLV - Enhanced Sealift Vessel
AOR - Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment
DHV - Dive Hydrographic  Vessel
IPV - Inshore Patrol Vessel