Canadian Sea King replacement

From 1983 onward attempts were made to replace the aging Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King helicopters of the Royal Canadian Navy. Due to a series of financial and political issues, the process was hampered by repeated delays. In the end the CH-148 Cyclone, a new version of the Sikorsky H-92 Superhawk was selected.

In 1983, the Department of National Defence began issuing contracts for the Sea King Replacement Project. However, the contracts were not intended to replace the CH-124, then reaching its 20th birthday in Canadian Forces service, but instead were meant to develop new avionics for an unknown new helicopter type to replace the Sea King in CF service.

However, by the mid-1980s, the Canadian Forces slowly started to regard the Sea Kings as being too small for its intended anti-submarine warfare role due to the ever-increasing size and amount of anti-submarine warfare gear being required. As such, the New Shipboard Aircraft Project (NSA) was initiated by the Progressive Conservative government led by Brian Mulroney in 1985 to find a replacement for the Sea King.

In 1986, the NSA entered its project definition phase – ‘Solicitations of Interest’ from industry were requested in April 1986. Three contenders were singled out as possible replacement for the Sea King: Sikorsky's S-70 SeaHawk (designated SH-60 Seahawk by the US Navy), Aérospatiale’s AS332F Super Puma and finally, AgustaWestland's new EH-101, of which the latter was purposely designed to be a Sea King replacement.

However, in a surprise move, Sikorsky then withdrew from the contest, because the SeaHawk was seen by the CF as too small, and furthermore the Sikorsky was competing with its own interests, having bought part of troubled Westland Helicopters, which was offering the EH-101. Aérospatiale in the middle of the contest then tipped its hand by suddenly redubbing its offering as the AS532 Cougar. Many considered the rebranding a previously successful product smacks of desperation, as sales of the AS332F were anything but brisk at the time.

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Wikipedia