The White House has green-lighted the second increment of the VH-71 presidential helicopter program, an initiative that could cost $11.2 billion - $4.4 billion higher than initial estimates.
Late last year, the Pentagon essentially put the VH-71 program on hold after talks with White House officials about the future of the embattled effort. But, according to defense officials, those talks stalemated when the two sides could not agree on how to proceed.
"The White House has decided to proceed with the complete VH-71 program, which includes two Increments," Pentagon acquisition chief John Young said in a March 14 statement. "The current fleet of helicopters is roughly 30 years old and has deficiencies in terms of communications, performance and safety."
Lockheed Martin, Agusta and Bell Helicopter Textron teamed to win the Navy's contract to build a new chief executive chopper in 2005, beating Sikorsky, which pitched the VH-92, a variant of the H-92 Superhawk.
Since then, skyrocketing costs and engineering issues have slowed development and caused heartburn inside the Pentagon about the fate of the program.
A Pentagon design review found that the US101 could meet the requirements for the first increment of the program, which includes five helos at a cost of $3.7 billion, up from initial estimates of $2.3 billion.
Critics have seized upon the findings of an April 2007 systems requirements review that showed nearly 2,000 design changes would be needed to meet Pentagon specs for the second batch of aircraft. Those changes included a new tail, transmission and rotor blades.
The systems requirements assessment gave new ammunition to critics of the suspended and over-budget program, including Sikorsky officials, who charge that Pentagon officials selected an aircraft that failed to match the initial requirements for the fleet of presidential transport platforms.
The troubled second increment contains most of the program's helicopters. The Pentagon statement reveals the cost of the second increment's 23 helicopters has risen from $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion.
While the US101 met the increment one requirements, the "Navy and industry team did not clearly realize the full implications of the White House requirements," Young said.
"To achieve the requirements and the government technical certification demands, the Navy and industry teams are having to complete substantial redesign of the EH-101 helicopter to meet the Increment 2 requirements," the weapons purchasing chief said. "This redesign work is driving significant cost growth into the program."
For increment one and the delayed second increment to be completed, Young said the program is "completely dependent on urgently needed support from Congress" as it wrestles with the 2009 defense spending bills.
The Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is ready to test a few components that soldiers may have in their hands by 2010.
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