US101 Cancelled...

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

So they cancel the $140 million F-22 for the $200+million F-35, that makes perfect since. Especial since Japan has asked more then once to get permission to buy the F-22 for the JASDF, witch would make the cost go down per unit, and if it did the UK had already expressed interest in buying some also, witch would drive it down even more

The UK never expressed an interest in the F-22 (we could never afford it, particularly alongside the

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

[QUOTE] May 1, 2009



By Andy Nativi

Stung by criticism in Washington over the VH-71 presidential helicopter program that U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to scrap and reassess, AgustaWestland is firing back and arguing, essentially, that there is no reason to start all over.

Rather than junking the Increment 1 helos, which the Pentagon says only have 5-10 years of useful life and are therefore not worth fielding, AgustaWestland argues that the rotorcraft, with some certification activities, can be validated for at least 10,000 hours of useful life, not the 1,500 specified by the Navy. The baseline AW101 aircraft is already certified for that flight time.

Moreover, with about $3.3 billion already sunk into the program, AgustaWestland argues it can deliver 19 more Increment 1 variants for another $3.5 billion.

The total would roughly equal the original VH-71 program budget before costs more than doubled as requirements grew and the program raced ahead.

The helo maker further is floating the idea of building an upgraded version, a so-called Increment 1.5, which would be close to meeting the full program requirements but below the $13 billion price tag the program has now reached.

Meanwhile, AgustaWestland has delivered the fifth pilot-production VH-71 from its Yeovil, U.K., production facility.

Chief Executive Officer Giuseppe Orsi says that while program costs have doubled, the helicopter

[C]

Interesting. I wonder what the outcome will be - take the chosen helicopter with the airframe supplier offering to match the original budget price, or start the programme all over again? :-?

[Al_Fallujah]

Good thing everything's still floating along with the navy.

For now...

Standby for a small fleet to be sent to the  mothballs, or for a few CVN's to be retired and not replaced.

Its coming.

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

Navy Officially Terminates VH-71


Jun 2, 2009

The Department of Defense and U.S. Naval Air Systems Command announced the official cancellation of the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter program late Monday.

Earlier that afternoon, a brief appeared and then was removed from NAVAIR's website announcing the cancellation. The link to the announcement was broken, however, and calls to Navy Public Affairs went unanswered.

Hours later, both the Department of Defense and NAVAIR issued official word that the program has been formally terminated with Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, N.Y. The company was awarded the program in January 2005, and has delivered eight Increment One aircraft to the Navy. A ninth is being flown by Lockheed for testing.

A program acquisition decision memorandum was issued May 15, 2009, directing the cancellation of the program. That decision, according to NAVAIR's statement "resulted from cost growth in the VH-71 program that breached Nunn-McCurdy thresholds."

The Pentagon's new acquisitions chief, Ashton Carter, has asked the Navy to develop options for a replacement helicopter and present those to his office. The President's budget for fiscal 2010 contains funds for service life extension of the current VH-60N/VH-3D fleet. Termination costs are unknown at this time, and Lockheed has a full year to submit a proposal for a settlement.

Bettina H. Chavanne chavanne@aviationweek.com
AviationWeek.com  

I wander what they are going to do with the 5 they already paid for and have? Those still work, and should be painted by now, except for the 5th one.