06:27 GMT, June 11, 2009, defpro.com | On January 23, 2009, President Obama stated that the VH-71 presidential helicopter programme was “an example of the procurement process gone amok.” In fact, the VH-71 programme has experienced significant schedule delays. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said April 6 that the programme has fallen six years behind schedule and runs the risk of not delivering the requested capability. He recommended the president to terminate the programme which has seen already more than $3 billion invested to cover the R&D and production costs of the first phase.
As a result, Ashton Carter, the DOD acquisition executive, issued an internal DOD memorandum directing that the VH-71 programme be cancelled on May 15, 2009. The Navy announced a stop-work order and a termination of the programme on June 1.
Since the termination of the VH-71 programme, which had the aim to provide 23 new helicopters replacing the 19 aging VH-3D and VH-60N rotorcraft used to transport the president, the US Congress has now to approve the Administration’s proposal and initiate a successor programme.
According to a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released on June 5, CRS is exploring the costs of alternatives to canceling the VH-71 presidential helicopter programme. In this report the CRS stated that continuing with the VH-71 programme in more or less the current form would result in acquisition costs of $13 billion or more, including sunk costs on the VH-71 programme of more than $3 billion bill, thus taxpayers would have to pay about $10 billion.
Since its beginning, the programme was divided into Increment I and Increment II helicopters. The Increment I meet some but not all the operational requirements as stated in the VH-71 Operational Requirements Document which was approved by the DOD In December 2003. It was intended that the Increment I enter service first as near-term replacements while Increment II which meet all the requirements in the ORD, were to enter service later.
An alternative proposed by the CRS would see 18 Increment I aircraft procured while Increment II would be cancelled. Including the five pilot production Increment I aircraft, this would make a total fleet of 23 presidential helicopters. Terminating the Increment II would save $3.6 billion leaving less than $6.4 billion to taxpayers, the report stated. Another option could see 14 rather than 18 additional Increment I aircraft procured saving another hundreds of millions of dollars.
This estimate of both proposals, however, does not include the costs of keeping the 19 existing presidential helicopters in operation until they are replaced by the new aircraft.
Alternatively the 19 existing presidential helicopters could be upgraded and their service lives extended. Such an upgrade could cost $4.4 billion according to US Navy estimates. According to the CRS an upgrade could extend the service life of the VH-60Ns from 10 000 to 12 000 flight hours and thus provide another 6.9 years in operation. The VH-3Ds would have their service lives extended from 14 000 hours to 16 000 hours, providing another 6.7 years of operation. However, the 19 existing aircraft would not meet many of the operational requirements in the VH-71 ORD.
Be this as it may, due to the advanced age and technological limitations of the current fleet, a new fleet of presidential helicopters are still necessary. The proposed live extension of the current fleet of presidential helicopters, which are already 35 years old, would just postpone the date for a new programme which still will be needed. The US Congress has now to find out if a total termination of the programme would be even more costly than completing the current program under one of the above mentioned option.
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego is the prime contractor and systems integrator for the VH-71 programme with overall responsibility for the programme and aircraft system. AgustaWestland, the principal subcontractor, has responsibility for the basic air vehicle design, production build, and basic air vehicle support functions.
