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USAF Combat Rescue Helicopter
Defense News: 3 Companies Drop Bids for USAF Combat Rescue Helicopter
A trio of competitors for the U.S. Air Force’s new Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) have decided not to bid on the program, leaving a clear path for Sikorsky to land the nearly $7 billion contract. EADS North America, Boeing and Northrop Grumman all confirmed to Defense News that they will not be putting in a bid on the program before the Jan. 3 due date. The decision was first reported by Reuters. The new Combat Rescue Helicopter is DoD’s second attempt over the past decade to replace its heavily used Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawks, some of which have been performing military and civil rescue operations since 1982. The Air Force plans to purchase 112 of the new helicopters. Acquisition officials capped the CRH program at $6.8 billion, meaning any bid that went over that figure would be automatically disqualified......... Interest in the program had been high — representatives from AgustaWestland, Boeing, EADS, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, L-3 Communications and Sikorsky all attended an industry day in September. Now, less than a month before proposals were due, all but one known competitor have said they will not bid. “Boeing and the Bell Boeing Joint Program Office have told the U.S. Air Force that they will not compete the Boeing CH-47 Chinook or the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey in the Air Force’s Combat Rescue Helicopter competition,” confirmed Boeing spokesman Andrew Lee in a statement. The company said the two helicopters “exceed the parameters” of the request for proposal (RFP) issued in October. Lee added that Boeing informed the Air Force of their decision “in the last week or two.” “After carefully evaluating the RFP, we have elected not to submit a bid,” said EADS spokesman James Darcy. “Northrop Grumman has determined that it will not submit a bid to the U.S. Air Force for the Combat Rescue Helicopter program,” Margaret Mitchell-Jones, Northrop spokeswoman, wrote in an email. “We’ve reached this conclusion based on an extensive evaluation of customer requirements under the current RFP. This decision was made jointly with our teammate AgustaWestland and will have no affect on the team’s pursuit of the U.S. Navy presidential helicopter program.”.............. |
Understandable; the Air Force's decision to buy 21 UH-60Ms as op loss aircraft in parallel with drafting the CRH specs did send a fairly strong signal as to its preference.
It'll be interesting to see whether the service has the confidence to proceed with the program, or whether fear of legal action (and/or GAO review) will cause yet another rewrite of the specs and associated delay in replacing the 60Gs. I/C |
Was the EADs submission the NH90?
If so, why the dropout? This article mentioned nothing with respect to EADs decision. Also, it will be interesting to see if SAC attempts to press the H92 into service in this role like the did on CSAR-X. It was woefully underqualified for that contract. Perhaps this will be the long awaited 5th bladed 92 derivative that has been in the works up in CT the past 8 years. Who knows, in another 8 maybe they will even finish the IDMGB! |
I must say I was really expecting NG/AW to keep pressing with the AW101...
And as SansAnhedral said: its going to be interesting to see Sikorsky reaction to this: HH-60 or S-92? |
Where's Crab?
I was expecting to see Crab in here telling them exactly what they needed,
could it be S**K***??? |
I must say I was really expecting NG/AW to keep pressing with the AW101... Also, since Lockheed was prime on the US101 based VXX1, and now is partnering with SAC for VXX2, I am sure the whole 101 design (which was subsequently sold to Boeing :ugh:) is in IP laywer-land hell. The real reason is much simpler Pentagon Backs USAF In Helo Contest: Source Five big contractors on Tuesday withdrew from an Air Force competition to buy 112 new rescue helicopters, with industry officials saying the terms of the competition favored Sikorsky’s Black Hawk helicopter and would not reward extra capabilities offered by their aircraft. |
The HH-60W has arrived in Eglin as its part of the 413th Flight Test Squadron out of Duke Field. The second one arrived next day. Also as they are flying in experimental mode, that the crew flew in VFR.https://www.eglin.af.mil/News/Articl...xyCBVhl3Jp0l8/
Cheers https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/at...05856f91b61709https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/at...05856f91b61709https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/at...05856f91b61709 |
The only helicopter you ever need! Such a great design. Well done Sikorsky.
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Wish we had bought them back in the 80s
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I have a few hundred hours on the type, although I was lucky enough to fly the Pave Hawk. Wish I had more! A bit like flying a V8 Land Rover.
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