Heliport
21st May 2001, 21:57
From the Seattle Times
May 21 2001
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">WASHINGTON - The Comanche helicopter being developed by Boeing and United Technologies is too heavy to meet combat-flying requirements, making it doubtful the aircraft can begin production by 2005, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO).
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/comanchepic19_0518180712.jpeg
The helicopter's projected weight has grown to 9,475 pounds, making it 175 pounds too heavy to climb the required 500 feet per minute to escape enemy fire, according to a draft report prepared by the GAO, Congress' investigative agency.
The helicopter program's cost also has jumped to $48.1 billion from $43.3 billion, with more cost increases likely, the GAO said. The Army must pay for any increase.
The GAO report will ensure the program gets intense congressional scrutiny when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld submits a defense budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
"The service and contractors should be worried," said Richard Aboulafia, a military analyst for the Teal Group. "Someone was bound to notice the risks of using helicopters of questionable early capability to move the program rapidly and silently from full-scale development into production."
Army spokesman Dan O'Boyle declined to comment on the draft report, which was prepared at the request of Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. DeFazio, who doesn't sit on the defense budget committee, has been a critic of the Comanche.
Boeing spokesman Jack Satterfield and Sikorsky Aircraft spokesman Bill Tuttle also declined comment.
The Comanche, which entered full-scale development in April 2000, is designed to perform reconnaissance and attack ground targets.
Boeing operates the Comanche program from its Philadelphia manufacturing plant, where it's making the tail section for 13 test aircraft that Sikorsky will assemble in Stratford, Conn.
The Light Helicopter Turbine Engine unit of Honeywell and Rolls Royce North America in Indianapolis provides the engine. Each chopper is estimated to cost about $39 million.
The Comanche is schedule to move into low production in June 2005. The Boeing-Sikorsky team would produce 14 helicopters in fiscal 2005, 26 in 2006 and 47 in 2007.
The Pentagon may make a decision on full-rate production in December 2006. If approved, the team would produce 60 helicopters in 2008 and 2009, and 72 a year between 2010 and 2023. The Army originally planned to build 4,168 of the helicopters; its goal now is 1,213 by 2024.
The $4.8 billion growth in cost stemmed from the aircraft's increase in weight, testing delays, inadequate facilities to test and integrate hardware and software, and money added to correct earlier, optimistic cost projections, the GAO said.</font>
May 21 2001
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">WASHINGTON - The Comanche helicopter being developed by Boeing and United Technologies is too heavy to meet combat-flying requirements, making it doubtful the aircraft can begin production by 2005, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO).
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/comanchepic19_0518180712.jpeg
The helicopter's projected weight has grown to 9,475 pounds, making it 175 pounds too heavy to climb the required 500 feet per minute to escape enemy fire, according to a draft report prepared by the GAO, Congress' investigative agency.
The helicopter program's cost also has jumped to $48.1 billion from $43.3 billion, with more cost increases likely, the GAO said. The Army must pay for any increase.
The GAO report will ensure the program gets intense congressional scrutiny when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld submits a defense budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
"The service and contractors should be worried," said Richard Aboulafia, a military analyst for the Teal Group. "Someone was bound to notice the risks of using helicopters of questionable early capability to move the program rapidly and silently from full-scale development into production."
Army spokesman Dan O'Boyle declined to comment on the draft report, which was prepared at the request of Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. DeFazio, who doesn't sit on the defense budget committee, has been a critic of the Comanche.
Boeing spokesman Jack Satterfield and Sikorsky Aircraft spokesman Bill Tuttle also declined comment.
The Comanche, which entered full-scale development in April 2000, is designed to perform reconnaissance and attack ground targets.
Boeing operates the Comanche program from its Philadelphia manufacturing plant, where it's making the tail section for 13 test aircraft that Sikorsky will assemble in Stratford, Conn.
The Light Helicopter Turbine Engine unit of Honeywell and Rolls Royce North America in Indianapolis provides the engine. Each chopper is estimated to cost about $39 million.
The Comanche is schedule to move into low production in June 2005. The Boeing-Sikorsky team would produce 14 helicopters in fiscal 2005, 26 in 2006 and 47 in 2007.
The Pentagon may make a decision on full-rate production in December 2006. If approved, the team would produce 60 helicopters in 2008 and 2009, and 72 a year between 2010 and 2023. The Army originally planned to build 4,168 of the helicopters; its goal now is 1,213 by 2024.
The $4.8 billion growth in cost stemmed from the aircraft's increase in weight, testing delays, inadequate facilities to test and integrate hardware and software, and money added to correct earlier, optimistic cost projections, the GAO said.</font>