Flying high: Lockheed wins presidential helicopter contract

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.

--
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

The Washington Post
January 29, 2005 Saturday
SECTION: Metro; B03
HEADLINE: Metro; In Brief
THE REGION
....MARYLAND
....The U.S. Navy awarded a $40 million contract to a Chantilly firm to
build
a facility for construction of presidential helicopters at the Patuxent
River Naval Air Station in St. Mary's County, officials said yesterday.
Hensel Phelps Construction Co. will build the hangar facility and
Lockheed
Martin was given $1.7 billion to build 23 helicopters for the Marine
Corps,
said the office of Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). Hoyer said that it was
one
of the largest construction projects in the Navy base's history and
that the
funding was a "very significant milestone" toward getting the facility
built. The Marine Helicopter Squadron transports the president, vice
president, other White House officials and foreign leaders. The two
types of
helicopters in the squadron need to be improved and receive updated
technology, Hoyer's office said...

Mike
Go Spad guys