Got briefed on the FY09 budget today...

$1 BILLION for R&D on the new presidential helo!?!?!?!

ONE BILLION DOLLARS????

And it's going to take THREE MORE BILLION to actually get the things in service! How many are they buying? 300???

WT...?

I have a pretty good grasp of procurement, but this seems over the top...

Anybody know how many birds they are buying?

What does Augusta-Westland have that's worth that kind of money?

It seems to me they could re-start CH-53 production for less than $4B

Can anyone explain this?

 

It's all going into the development of a diamond encrusted platinum
"lady j adapter" to accommodate Hilary on those long flights to Andrews!

 

Pretty sure she has a penis!

 

It seems to me that all previous presidential support aircraft have come from those already in fleet service in some capacity. With that thought in mind, they should order up an Osprey for the new presidential support rotorcraft. If it is good enough for the troops to ride in, then it ought to be good enough for the president. Then they could take all that R&D acquisition money they saved and buy important stuff the troops in OEF/OIF need right now today.

 

Two!

I haven't heard much from the MV-22 guys since they have been deployed. I wonder how things are going?

 

MV-22 is doing fine, not much word by design. Some way cool pics on www.navy.mil in the photo gallery.

With the VH-71, the program is a total fiasco. The RFP was pretty "open" in order to let the bidders have some flexibility rather than have NAVAIR say "you need 6 screws on this door". Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that Lock-Mart had no clue what was required of a presidential helo so NAVAIR had to start spelling out each item...in the end, after thousands of spec and KPP changes, the EH-101 is not big enough and doesn't meet the performance requirements with the gear installed (well, actually can't even lift off with the gear installed)....

Last fall, DOD went to the President to (mercy) kill the program and start over. They were told to continue with it.

So, the first 5 (Increment 1) are plain EH-101's and won't fly the mission. The next 18 (Increment 2) are going to have new engines, new rotor, new transmission, new (larger) cabin and a larger tail boom in an effort to support the requirements. So, what we got is an entirely new aircraft program with the ensuing SD&D bill. They do have one spectacular facility out here at Pax River though.

Both parties are at fault. NAVAIR was pretty vague in the RFP language and L-M didn't ask enough questions.

BTW, the -53 is going back into production soon with the -53K to replace all the USMC's E's. The 53 doesn't meet the tranportability (airlift) requirements - too big.

HTH
Spongebob

 

Thanks, I thought there had to be more than meets the eye to this