Defense News: EADS Will Not Compete For Next Air Force One (http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3923542&c=AME&s=AIR)
The chances that a European-designed passenger jet will be the next Air Force One are next to nil.
EADS North America announced Jan. 27 that it isn't participating in the opening contract discussions to build the next generation of Air Force One.
EADS and Boeing Co. are the only aircraft firms now building wide-body passenger jets likely large enough to meet the requirements for a future Air Force One.
Air Force Materiel Command announced Jan. 7 that the service wants to replace the two Boeing 747-200 jets that fly as Air Force One starting in 2017. The Air Force did not rule out using an overseas firm to build the president's plane. "The level of security and amount of foreign participation in this requirement has not been determined," the request advised contractors.
EADS's divisions include Airbus, the primary overseas passenger jet competitor to Boeing.
Tim Paynter, spokesman for EADS North America, said the firm decided that offering a plane to fly as Air Force One did not fit into the company's objective for its North American market. EADSs and partner Northrop Grumman will continue to compete for the KC-X tanker contract for about 170 jets.
If EADS had entered the Air Force One bidding, it could have offered the Airbus A380. A likely candidate from Boeing is the 747-800, a larger version of the 747s now flying as Air Force One.
racedo
29th Jan 2009, 21:07
The chances that a European aircraft would have even been chosen are less than nil given the protectionist position that is being adopted.
Can understand EADS position as why spend millions on putting a bid together when its always going to be a Boeing.
Two's in
30th Jan 2009, 01:38
The chances that a European aircraft would have even been chosen are less than nil given the protectionist position that is being adopted.
...that's funny, I'm sure that the VH-71 due to be lifting off from the South lawn with the Man on board in 2010 looks suspiciously like a Somerset Merlin with an LM badge job.
Hilife
30th Jan 2009, 04:19
I wouldn’t put money on that.
US Presidential Helicopter 50 Percent Over Budget
WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp's high-profile VH-71 presidential helicopter program, designed to work in a pinch as a White House in the sky, has surged more than 50 percent over budget, the U.S. Navy said on Thursday.
As a result of such cost growth, the Defense Department either must end the program or certify that it is essential for national security and meets three other tests established by law.
The Navy notified Congress of the problem on Wednesday, as required by the so-called Nunn-McCurdy procurement law that can force cancellation of an arms program if unit-cost growth tops certain levels, Navy spokesman Lt. Clay Doss said.
The cost breach is the latest in a long string dogging major arms programs, but the first to be announced since President Barack Obama took office as the 44th president on Jan. 20.
Containing the spiraling cost growth of U.S. arms programs is to be a top goal of Obama's team at the Pentagon once they take office.
The five "pilot production" VH-71 helicopters that will complete the first phase of the program are scheduled to reach initial operating capability in September 2010. The current presidential helicopters are scheduled to start phasing out of operational service at a rate of three per year in 2017.
The key factors driving the program's spiraling cost and schedule are "required technical upgrades to system components and the design, test, and qualification time it will take to field this aircraft," Doss said in a statement.
The cost per helicopter would be at least 50 percent over "baseline" estimates submitted in February 2006, and the overruns applied to the entire program, he said.
The exact percentages and dollar amounts of the overrun would be determined in coming weeks, the Navy added.
Lockheed shares were unchanged at $82.57 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trade.
'SCHEDULE RISK'
Lockheed and its chief subcontractor on the project, AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica, won the contract in January 2005. They beat Sikorsky Aircraft, a United Technologies Corp unit that makes the current "Marine One" helicopters used to ferry the president.
"From the beginning, the program carried more schedule risk than normal due to the security environment created by 9/11," Doss said. The Pentagon sped up plans to replace the existing fleet after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking attacks boosted concerns about secure communications and "continuity of government."
Program officials until now had been working closely with Lockheed Martin and the White House to examine possible tradeoffs to keep it within budget, Doss said.
Representatives of Lockheed, the Pentagon's biggest supplier, and AgustaWestland declined to comment, referring callers to the Navy.
Six of the program's initial nine scheduled aircraft have been delivered, including four test models, according to Lockheed Martin. The second phase is to provide 23 operational helicopters with increased range and upgraded navigations and communications gear to let the president carry out his duties aloft.
Some experts have said the technical challenge amounts to cramming the advanced communications capabilities of Air Force One, the presidential airliner, into a helicopter.
The Navy said the program's operational requirements had been stable since the contract was awarded, but required technical upgrades and needed testing were driving up costs.
Once a program breaches the cost thresholds set under the Nunn-McCurdy law, the Pentagon's chief arms buyer must certify to Congress that: 1) The acquisition program is essential to national security; 2) No alternatives exist that provide equal or greater military capability at less cost; 3) The new program's unit cost or procurement unit cost estimates are reasonable; and 4) Management structure is adequate to manage and control program acquisition unit cost and procurement unit cost. (Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Lisa Von Ahn)
Two's in
30th Jan 2009, 15:39
Hilife,
Some experience of Procurement allows me to use wooly phrases like;
due to be lifting off
...so I can't be wrong.
spheroid
30th Jan 2009, 15:44
The chances that a European aircraft would have even been chosen are less than nil given the protectionist position that is being adopted
Apart from "Marine One" the Presidential Helicopter which is built in Somerset.