Skyhawk 'giveaway' after failed sale
By TRACY WATKINS, ANDREA VANCE and MICHAEL FIELD - Stuff
The mothballed Skyhawk fighter jets will likely be "given away," Prime Minister John Key has admitted.
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp today admitted that unless there are dramatic developments in the next 24 hours, the Skyhawks will be either junked or turned into museum pieces.
Earlier today Mr Key said the failure to sell the jets has been a "a disaster" for the taxpayer and frustrating for the Government. On his way to the House this afternoon, Mr Key said he was "disappointed".
The American buyer, Tactical Air Service, has a deadline of tomorrow to come up with the money, after which American State Department approval - required for the sale - expires. Mr Key said it was not likely this would be made. He admitted: "We've got some sense of what the alternatives will be, but none of them look terribly flash. The most likely would be that they are given away.
"If that's where it ends up then at some point you have got to cut your losses."
But he refused to attribute blame for the failed sale. "We just have to deal with the situation we've got which is at the moment there's not a lot of buyers that have got cash for the Skyhawks."
Earlier today, Mr Key said that even if the Skyhawks were sold there would be been enormous costs in refurbishing them and getting them up and running again. "It's not just as simple as handing over the keys. There will be an awful lot of work that has to be done and the reality is that time has moved on and technology has moved on. There's a limited demand for them," Mr Key said.
He said one of the Skyhawks may go to Australia, and some of the avionics could be sold. "We are considering a number of other options that are available to us. There is probably more demand for the Aermacchi than the Skyhawks but we will have to see how we go from here. "It may well be that they end up in clubs around New Zealand and maybe one going to Australia. It's obviously disappointing.
"It's historic, they'd [Australia] like to have one in their collection over there and I think it would be a nice gesture on our part. And let's face it, there's not exactly a lot of buyers who are clambering in front of them." He added: "There's some avionics in them and we'd still have to get clearance from the State Department before we can actually sell those avionics."
He said it was "frustrating" copyright around the avionics was blocked by the US State Department. "I don't want to blame anyone. I haven't see any advice on why it's been held up but there's been a number of blockages along the way."
(BACKGROUND INFORMATION)
The 17-strong Skyhawk fleet has been in mothballs since 2001 when the then Labour government decommissioned the air combat wing and reorganised the defence force.
They were sold to TAS for $155 million but the sale was stalled by the need for State Department approval, which took four years. But TAS is yet to hand over the money.
Mr Mapp said he would be getting an update from officials later today: "The key issue there is have they got the money or have they got an extension of the date".
Unless either happened in the next 24 hours the Government would have to look at alternatives.
"If no one wants to buy them they end up being museum pieces - at some point air craft reach the end of their life."
The other option was selling the planes off as spare parts.
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