Production of Craft (Marine One) Has Been Delayed

[flashl]

Source: Washington Post

Cost Nearly Doubles For Marine One Fleet

A year after Sept. 11, 2001, the White House set out to build a fleet of state-of-the-art Marine One helicopters for the al-Qaeda age that would be safer, more powerful and more reliable than the iconic white-topped aircraft that have landed on the South Lawn for decades.

But the al-Qaeda age has met the military acquisition process. Six years later, the cost of the new helicopters has nearly doubled, production has fallen behind schedule, and the bulk of the program has been put on hold while the government tries to figure out how to salvage it.

The Pentagon confirmed this month that the cost of the fleet of 28 new super-sophisticated helicopters has jumped from $6.1 billion when the contract was signed in 2005 to $11.2 billion today. Outfitted with cutting-edge communications equipment, antimissile defenses and hardened hulls, each of the VH-71 helicopters, to be dubbed Marine One whenever the president is onboard, will cost $400 million -- more than the most recent Boeing 747 jetliner outfitted to serve as Air Force One when it was delivered in 1990, even when adjusted for inflation.

The problems have generated consternation in the White House, Congress and Pentagon as officials attempt to grapple with yet another military hardware purchase that has expanded beyond initial parameters. In this case, though, they face the singular challenge of ensuring that the president is safe from all sorts of theoretical dangers and capable of running the country from midair during a crisis.

Washington Post

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/16/AR2008031602936.html?hpid=topnews

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The 'government' is busy trying to "figure' things out and salvage them these days.

[bean fidhleir]

1. I think the vehicle for GOP & DLC officeholders should be the Osprey

It's only fair. And potentially good for the country, too.

[Xithras]

3. True, but think about the poor DC neighbors.

Ouch!

[flashl]

4. After all the ONLY pilot with a long term success record is no longer with us. nt

[JPZenger]

2. Contract was based upon Italian helicopter

This huge contract was originally supposed to be based upon an Italian helicopter, with Lockhead as their partner. The second page of the article said this arrangement did not work, and they now had to basically started from scratch, even though Lockhead never made helicopters.

There were allegations that Bush gave this contract out to an Italian company to bribe the Italians into providing troops in Iraq. At the time, US helicopter companies complained, such as Boeing. Hillary defended the Italian deal because they promised to locate some of the jobs in New York State.

This case relates directly to the current controversy with Boeing and the refueling aircraft. Boeing has been successfully making refueling aircraft for the US for decades. They were granted the original contract many years ago, but McCain killed it.

Here we are many years later, with a greatly aged fleet of refueling planes, and no end it sight, and most of the jobs going to Europe. The Boeing model that was used for the refueling planes will probably have its assembly line permanently shut down, and not be able to be restarted later because of that screw-up.

Aerial refueling is dangerous business. To make our air force personnel use ancient aircraft or an unproven design is immoral.

[fenriswolf]

5. for the price of 28 heliocoptors we could fix all of americas bridges and spans nt.

[flvegan]

6. "...capable of running the country from midair during a crisis." Dubya?

He can't run the country from the ground without a crisis.

9/11, Katrina...