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AIN Monthly Page Temps The AgustaWestland triple-engine AW101, formerly the EH101, provided the basic airframe and components for the VH-71 Presidential helo presidential helicopter. Lockheed Martin System Integration teeters on the edge developed the mission equipment. by R. Randall Padfield The future of the VH-71 presi- Senate appropriation bills now at dential helicopter program neared odds regarding the program, it was the wire last month as Congress left to their conference committee worked to pass a final 2010 to work out a solution, which is defense appropriations bill that where the situation stood as this the President would sign before the article was written. If the VH-71 start of the fiscal year on October 1. continuation funding is included If the bill is not signed into law in the final appropriations bill, Con- by then, Congress would need gress would be openly challenging to pass a continuing resolution to President Barack Obama, who has temporarily fund the Department said he would veto any defense of Defense. As AIN went to press, bill that includes such funding for the bill had not yet become law. the new Marine One helicopter. After Secretary of Defense But according to some Robert Gates on April 6 recom- observers, the President has a mended the presidential helicopter face-saving loophole, if he decides replacement program be termi- to change his mind. An official nated and the DOD on May 15 White House statement about the issued an internal memo termi- House defense appropriations bill nating work on the VH-71 and issued on July 30 states, “If the the Navy on June 1 announced final bill were to include funds that it would terminate the con- that continue the existing VH-71 tract, most people understandably program…the President’s senior considered the program dead. But advisors would recommend that some support for the program he veto the bill.” In Washington- remained in Congress, particularly speak, this wording is “softer in states and districts where busi- language” and “less ironclad,” nesses with VH-71 contracts were according to insiders, than what affected. So on July 30, the House the same statement says, for exam- Cost Estimates for the Expanded Increment 1 VH-71A Option of Representatives approved $400 ple, about the Lockheed Martin/ Sunk cost* Extra cost Total cost Nr. of A/C million in its version of the Boeing F-22 fighter, specifically, (in $ billions) (in $ billions) (in $ billions) defense appropriations bill (H.R. “If the final bill contains this pro- Congressman Bartlett (R-Md.) 19 3.2 N.S. ~6.5 3326) to continue research, devel- vision [about the F-22], then the opment, testing and evaluation of President will veto.” So, conceiv- Senator Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) 19 3.3 3.5 6.8 s t r the VH-71, with the objective ably, Obama could decide not to AgustaWestland 23 N.S. N.S. 6.8 o p e of making five of the nine VH- accept the recommendation of his r Lockheed Martin 19 3.0 3.8 6.8 d n 71As that have been built to date advisors regarding the VH-71 and a s Senator Schumer (D-N.Y.) 19 3.2 3.8 7.0 t n into operational helicopters for allow its funding to continue. e m Lockheed Martin 23 3.0 4.3 7.3 e the President. (The five are “pilot t a t production” aircraft, while the The ‘Expanded’ Congressman Hinchey (D-N.Y.) 19 3.1 4.4 7.5 s d Increment 1 Solution e other four are “test vehicles.”) h s i WBB Consulting 23 3.3 4.2 7.5 l b After Congress came back into It was in 2005 that the U.S. u p session last month following its Navy awarded the contract to U.S. Navy 19 3.3 ~5.6 <9.4 s u o i r recess in August, the Senate Appro- provide a fleet of 23 VXX (as U.S. Navy 23 3.3 6.1 9.4 a V : priations Committee on Septem- they were then called) presidential e Notes: N.S. = not specified c r ber 10 decided to exclude similar helicopters in two increments to u * Sunk costs include approximate program expenditures, but do not include termination costs and cost of maintaining the current presidential fleet. o funding for the VH-71 in its ver- Lockheed Martin System Integra- S sion of the defense appropriations tion (prime contractor and systems AW101, formerly the EH101 mittee on Defense, supported the Increment 1 VH-71 program,” bill, as was recommended by its integration), AgustaWestland (pro- helicopter) and Bell Helicopter effort to have an additional $400 which was one of four potential subcommittee. With the House and viding the basic three-engine (flight-test engineers and mainte- million for the VH-71 inserted alternatives suggested in a Navy nance support and eventual final into the House version of the briefing to the House Armed Ser- assembly of the aircraft), follow- defense appropriations bill. If this vice Committee in May. Under ing a competition with a Sikorsky funding is ultimately approved, it this proposal, he and other Con- Aircraft team, which offered its will result in the restoration of gressmen, including Michael twin-engine S-92. many of the jobs in Owego, Arcuri (D-N.Y.) and John Murtha Since the termination of the according to a statement from (D-Pa.), contend that the Navy contract in May, Lockheed Martin Hinchey’s office. Hinchey said, could purchase a full fleet of 19 has laid off some 700 employees “We have not only restored fund- Increment 1 (VH-71A) heli- involved in the program at its ing for the presidential helicopter copters for a total cost of about S I B Owego, N.Y. facility. The U.S. replacement program, we’ve breath- $7 billion, which is close to the R O C / joint-venture AgustaWestlandBell, ed new life into it by making a original $6.1 billion approved A P E / formed in 2003 to manufacture very substantive argument for for 23 helicopters comprising H G U A the US101, has laid off 48 people why it is in the best interest of the three test aircraft, five interim N A V and Bell Helicopter has laid off American taxpayers and the Pres- Increment 1 and 15 more-capable A C W about 100. ident to continue the program.” Increment 2 (VH-71B) helicopters. E H T T Not surprisingly, Congressman Hinchey’s “substantive argu- The current Marine One presi- A M Maurice Hinchey, a New York ment” is about the $3.3 billion dential fleet comprises 11 VH-3D © President Obama has said that the current Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King helicopters, Democrat and a member of the already expended on the program Sea Kings and eight VH-60 Night operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) “seem perfectly adequate to me.” House Appropriations Subcom- and what he calls “an expanded Continues on page 46 & 44aaAviation International News • October 2009 • www.ainonline.com Presidential helo would presumably favor no particular because it was an interim solution. Presidential Helicopter Timeline bidder. Lockheed Martin also pro- Regarding fatigue life, while the duced its own white paper, which AgustaWestland AW101, upon which The current fleet of 11 VH-3D presidential teeters on the edge 1975 favors procuring 19 Increment 1 the VH-71A is based, has a service helicopters achieves initial operational capability. & Continued from page 44 VH-71s, arguing that the VH-71 is life of 10,000 flight hours, the Navy Hawks, a total of 19 aircraft, all built faster, safer and can travel farther set the VH-71A’s service life at The current fleet of eight VH-60N presidential 1989 by Sikorsky Aircraft. while carrying more passengers than 1,500 hours after cutting airframe- helicopters achieves initial operational capability. Secretary Gates in April said, the existing presidential helicopters. certification fatigue testing from the “Today the [VH-71] program is esti- Congressman Roscoe Bartlett program to save time and cost Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) mated to cost over $13 billion, has (R-Md.) said at a May 19 hearing on because the Increment 1 helicop- March 1998 submits a Fleet Operational Needs document fallen six years behind schedule and FY2010 Navy aviation programs ters were to be an interim solution. for a replacement presidential helicopter (VXX). runs the risk of not delivering the before a subcommittee of the House After delays in the program made requested capability.” In May, while Armed Services Committee, “We it apparent that Increment 1 aircraft September 1999 The Navy approves the Mission Needs Statement. testifying before the House Appro- know that Increment 1 is deficient–a would be in service longer than priations Subcommittee on Defense, little deficient in payload capability, originally planned, the Navy brought A White House memorandum expresses the need he said that the VH-71 program in speed and in how far it can go in back its fatigue testing in FY2009 November 2002 “was a poster child for an acquisi- range [compared with Increment and stated in a March 30, 2009 to accelerate the presidential helicopter program. tion process gone seriously wrong.” 2]–but the essential reason we were information paper provided to Con- Naval Air Systems Command requests proposals He suggested that one solution told for moving away from the cur- gress, “An Increment 1 life over a Dec. 18, 2003 could be to procure two rent fleet was to have the better potential 30-year/10,000-flight-hour for the VXX.
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