Sea king helicopters over the hill?
In the wake of the Sea King helicopter crash that killed nine Australian military personnel in Indonesia last Saturday, questions have been raised over the reliability of the ageing machines. While the actual cause of the crash will not be known until an inquiry has been held, mechanical failure is suspected. The Australian government’s military commitments overseas have increased significantly over the years, putting the Sea King helicopters to use in several different countries … But the incident has beeged the question – is the Sea King accident a sign of military over reach. Dr. John Bruni is a lecturer in Strategic Studies in the Centre for Asian Studies at the University of Adelaide. He spoke to Bill Birtles about how reliable the Sea King helicopters are.