Eric Gershon/The Hartford Courant | Boeing will seek a contract to build the next U.S. Presidential
helicopter, Marine One, which means Sikorsky Aircraft must again compete
to keep work it’s had for decades.
Boeing said Monday it has licensed an AgustaWestland medium-lift
helicopter to offer against an entry from Sikorsky Aircraft and Lockheed
Martin, which are working as a team.
Lockheed beat Stratford-based Sikorsky for the same project in 2005, but later lost the contract because of extreme cost overruns. Under Lockheed, program costs swelled to $13 billion for 28 aircraft. In 2005, Lockheed was working with AgustaWestland, an Italian-English consortium, and will now be competing against it with Sikorsky.
The 2005 loss was a bitter blow for Sikorsky, a division of United Technologies Corp. that has supplied the presidential helicopter for decades, and still does.
Sikorsky and Lockheed, which is based in Maryland, said in February they will offer a version of Sikorsky’s H-92 medium-lift helicopter. Lockheed will supply major components.
Boeing said Monday that it would offer the AW101, a three-engine, medium-lift helicopter. More than 150 of them are in service with five NATO militaries and Japan, the company said.
Boeing said it would submit information regarding this aircraft in response to the Navy’s current Request for Information by June 18, the deadline.
In February, the Navy advertised that it has resumed looking for a replacement for the Marine One fleet, with the first new helicopter entering service in 2017 at the earliest.
Barack Obama, campaigning for president in 2008, argued against a new Marine One in 2008, saying that the old fleet would be fine for shuttling him around if he won the White House.
The new aircraft would enter service after Obama leaves office.
So when Boeing assembles a foreign design, it is a Boeing aircraft, but when Northrop Grumman tried to do the same thing for the air-refueling tanker, Boeing claimed jobs were going overseas. Hypocrits.
It’s only money, right Mr President?
crobb – did you read the story? This helicopter is forhte NEXT president – nt the current one.
I had that same feeling when we bought Bush 41 a pair of matching 747’s. Your memory is short and selective.
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