The problem surfaced on Nov. 26 when one of
the helicopters underwent scheduled maintenance, and the cracks were
discovered. Sikorsky believes that some of those CH-148s can be repaired within
days.
The Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone is a militarised
version of the S-92 helicopter. The aircraft took more than a decade to enter
service, and its cost soared from an original budget of $3.2 billion to $5.7
billion.