World News – UA – Narrow doors mean $ 4 billion Australian Army helicopters cannot fire when troops rappelling from plane

Australian Army helicopters worth nearly AU $ 4bn (NZ $ 4265bn) cannot open fire when troops rappelled from the plane because the doors are too narrow

Defense tried three different models of gun stands to resolve the issue, but none fixed the issue

« It’s not a design issue of the gun mount It’s a matter of the width of the door, » Defense official Shane Fairweather said Tuesday at a Senate budget hearing

Defense Chief Angus Campbell admitted there was a problem with the gun doors on Taipan helicopters

But General Campbell said the military has reworked its tactics so that troops can still reach the ground while pilots open fire on enemies in dangerous operations

The helicopters are deployed in pairs so that one can fire while the troops abseil from the second plane

« It requires careful planning for the use of our airplanes. We never fly an airplane alone, » he said

Almost $ 3.8 billion (NZ $ 405 billion) has so far been spent on multi-purpose helicopters to replace the existing Sea King and Blackhawk fleets

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