Boeing CH-47 Chinook Wins Deal To Build Helicopters, Beating Lockheed HH-60 Pave Hawks

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...110901865.html

Boeing Wins Deal To Build Helicopters, Beating Lockheed

By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 10, 2006; D01

Boeing Co. won a coveted contract yesterday for 141 Air Force
search-and-rescue helicopters, a program that could be worth as much as
$15 billion, besting rivals Lockheed Martin Corp. and Sikorsky Aircraft
Corp.

The helicopters will replace the Air Force's fleet of HH-60 Pave Hawks,
which have been used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Air Force said it went with the low-risk option, choosing
Chicago-based Boeing's adaptation of the CH-47 Chinook, which the
military has used for more than 50 years. The decision followed a
strategy adopted by the government for at least two other high-profile
programs in recent months -- a NASA space-vehicle program and a
border-security initiative.

"We are not trying to go put the most elegant grand solution" together,
Sue C. Payton, the assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, said
at a briefing. "We are going out with what we can do that will vastly
improve what we have today in HH-60 helicopters."

It was a disappointing loss for Bethesda-based Lockheed, which was
betting that its surprise win last year over Sikorsky to provide the
Marine One helicopters used to ferry the president would give it an
edge. Most analysts expected the Air Force competition to be a rematch
of that battle. Instead, Boeing, which didn't compete last year,
trumped both Lockheed and Sikorsky.

The loss also was a setback to Lockheed's plans to expand into new
areas of business as defense budgets become tighter. The company is
best known for building fighter jets, missiles and satellites, but
teamed with a helicopter maker -- AgustaWestland Inc., a unit of the
Italian defense firm Finmeccanica SpA -- hoping to move into new
terrain and grab a bigger part of the Pentagon's budget.

During the Marine One competition, critics complained about Lockheed's
use of foreign partners, saying that the president should be flown only
in an American aircraft. For that competition, Sikorsky dumped some
foreign contractors, including companies from Taiwan and Japan, to
boost its entry's American content.

Lockheed expressed disappointment with the Air Force's decision in a
statement yesterday, as did Sikorsky.

"We thought we had a very strong proposal," Sikorsky spokesman Ed
Steadham said.

The initial contract is worth $712 million, but the program's budget is
to grow as Boeing begins building the aircraft. The new helicopters
will be able to conduct longer missions, hold more people and go faster
than those in the current fleet, Air Force officials said. Boeing has
also trumpeted the new craft's ability to fly higher and withstand
hotter temperatures.

The Air Force said Boeing's helicopters would be ready months before
those from its competitors would have been.

The "award is a vote of confidence by the Air Force in the ability of
Boeing to provide them the rotorcraft they need for this very important
mission," James F. Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing's
defense division, said in a written statement.

The deciding factor may have been Boeing's experience, Byron Callan,
industry analyst for Prudential Equity Group LLC, said in a research
note. "The award decision reflects a more conservative risk-avoidance
strategy on this particular program," he wrote. Lockheed's and
Sikorsky's aircraft had merit "but neither is in current operating
service with the U.S. military, whereas the DoD has an extensive
inventory and operating experience with the CH-47."

Has the Chinook really been in service for 50 years? That would mean 1956.



D

"DDAY" wrote in message
nk.net...
Has the Chinook really been in service for 50 years? That would mean
1956.


I believe it flew in testing back then... even the Air Force tested some,
but never adopted it.

I guess they will be getting some now....