It would be interesting to see another GAO report, similar to the 2008-2009 based report cited earlier (linked in Dan's post up there) and compare program goals (80% mission capable) with achieved readiness goals. (The above post cites the USMC getting about 70% and the USAF 80%) as the fleets grow and mature. Collecting data based on over a hundred aircraft gives a little more depth to the analysis than analysis of 12, yes?
Also of interest would be the MTBF analysis, on systems and subsystems, and whether or not the same "13 items" are flagged as the critical readiness degraders in the next analysis. If other parts/systems began to crop up as the long poles in the Mission Capable metric tent, how fast has either service been able to react to that? (Logistics question as much as anything else ... )
Let's see, if one takes at face value the "it's 112 million a copy" criticism, and apply this whopping
ten percent discount for a multi-year buy (which has the added political/economic incentive of keeping more subcontractors alive and well for a five year program) then you are "only" paying 101 million per copy.
Still a very expensive bird.
The price of speed, and breaking new technological ground.
As to using Frogs for the President ... why not? They used the H-3 for decades as the VIP bird ... old, but pretty dependable.
EDIT: don't they still use the VH-3D?
IIRC, the 101 replacement was nixed.