JJ wrote:

Whoa! $6.1 Billion for 23 units is $265 million per helicopter.
I dunno sounds like a lot...too much actually.

The helos themselves are complex, with a very elaborate commo and (one
assumes) self-protection outfit. That jacks up the price considerably right
there.

On top of the aircraft, there's a lot of associated infrastructure. The
Navy news website today has an illustration of the new test facility to be
built at Pax River specifically for the VXX program, at a cost of some $84
million (including new tower, air ops center, hangar, etc.). I suspect
that's necessary because of the requirement for total cradle-to-grave
security on the presidential helos. Similar costs will surely accrue for
other aspects of the program. Quantico will need new hangars too, for
example.

And running any high security program has its own costs. Not least will be
the cost of recruiting and employing a whole assembly line of people with
Yankee White clearances. They won't come cheap, especially since they know
they have LM over a barrel on this one. I wonder how many of Sikorsky's
cleared machinists will be moving from Bridgeport to Owego.

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Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." - Senator Carl Schurz, 1872