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.