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Pentagon weapon plan's winners and losers
WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced on Monday a proposed 2010 budget for the Pentagon that makes changes to a broad swath of big-ticket weapon programs. If adopted by the White House and Congress his recommendations would:
- Scrap a new presidential helicopter designed and built by Lockheed Martin Corp and its European partner AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica SpA. Gates said the programme had nearly doubled in cost to over US$13 billion (S$19.6 billion) and was six years behind schedule.
Pricey New Presidential Choppers Not Made in U.S.A.
Monday, March 2, 2009 12:29 PM
By: Nat Helms Article Font Size
President Barack Obama’s entreaties to “buy American” to improve the economy apparently doesn’t include the fleet of new Marine One helicopters he’ll soon be shuttled around in.
The Pentagon is spending $11.2 billion for 23 European-designed, British-built helicopters to replace the aging squadron of American aircraft used by American presidents for the past 30 years.
Critics of the presidential purchase claim the contract for the new Lockheed Martin “US101” variant of the Italian choppers violates a decades-old law that requires weapons systems and components used by the U.S. military to be made primarily in the United States.
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration - Owego is the prime contractor for the U.S. Navy's VH-71 Presidential Helicopter program. Troy Scully, a Lockheed Martin spokesman there, said the finished airframes contain enough U.S.-made components to satisfy current laws governing military purchases.
The completed helicopters are delivered to Owego from Yeovil, England aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 for final assembly after being test flown in England. After being fitted with an electronics suite “as capable as what is on Air Force One” the new helicopters will be delivered to the Marine Corps to fly the President, Scully said.
The Pentagon turned down Sikorsky Aircraft’s bid for an American made “Marine One” helicopter fleet despite strong lobbying from a powerful group of Republicans who wanted the new helicopter made by Sikorsky Aircraft in Connecticut.
Last March the Pentagon began studying why the program had nearly doubled in cost after Pentagon acquisition chief John Young reported that total costs has grown from $6.8 billion to $11.2 billion since the contract was let in 2005.
Young said the Navy and Lockheed Martin shared responsibility for the burgeoning cost.
“The Navy and industry team did not clearly realize the full implications of the White House requirements,” Young said in a statement at the time.
The program recently drew the ire of Arizona Sen. John McCain after the Navy reported to Congress on January 29 that after nine months of figuring it still hadn’t figured out a way to cut the price tag. McCain complained the fleet cost as much as Air Force One, a giant Boeing 747 airliner.
WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced on Monday a proposed 2010 budget for the Pentagon that makes changes to a broad swath of big-ticket weapon programs. If adopted by the White House and Congress his recommendations would:
- Scrap a new presidential helicopter designed and built by Lockheed Martin Corp and its European partner AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica SpA. Gates said the programme had nearly doubled in cost to over US$13 billion (S$19.6 billion) and was six years behind schedule.
Pricey New Presidential Choppers Not Made in U.S.A.
Monday, March 2, 2009 12:29 PM
By: Nat Helms Article Font Size
President Barack Obama’s entreaties to “buy American” to improve the economy apparently doesn’t include the fleet of new Marine One helicopters he’ll soon be shuttled around in.
The Pentagon is spending $11.2 billion for 23 European-designed, British-built helicopters to replace the aging squadron of American aircraft used by American presidents for the past 30 years.
Critics of the presidential purchase claim the contract for the new Lockheed Martin “US101” variant of the Italian choppers violates a decades-old law that requires weapons systems and components used by the U.S. military to be made primarily in the United States.
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration - Owego is the prime contractor for the U.S. Navy's VH-71 Presidential Helicopter program. Troy Scully, a Lockheed Martin spokesman there, said the finished airframes contain enough U.S.-made components to satisfy current laws governing military purchases.
The completed helicopters are delivered to Owego from Yeovil, England aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 for final assembly after being test flown in England. After being fitted with an electronics suite “as capable as what is on Air Force One” the new helicopters will be delivered to the Marine Corps to fly the President, Scully said.
The Pentagon turned down Sikorsky Aircraft’s bid for an American made “Marine One” helicopter fleet despite strong lobbying from a powerful group of Republicans who wanted the new helicopter made by Sikorsky Aircraft in Connecticut.
Last March the Pentagon began studying why the program had nearly doubled in cost after Pentagon acquisition chief John Young reported that total costs has grown from $6.8 billion to $11.2 billion since the contract was let in 2005.
Young said the Navy and Lockheed Martin shared responsibility for the burgeoning cost.
“The Navy and industry team did not clearly realize the full implications of the White House requirements,” Young said in a statement at the time.
The program recently drew the ire of Arizona Sen. John McCain after the Navy reported to Congress on January 29 that after nine months of figuring it still hadn’t figured out a way to cut the price tag. McCain complained the fleet cost as much as Air Force One, a giant Boeing 747 airliner.
