Replacing the president’s helicopter

[yortsed snacilbuper]

The Navy is set to select a contractor to create the next generation of presidential helicopters. The selection will come five years after the previous contract to build the helicopter was scrapped because of delays and cost overruns. Up for replacement are 11 VH-3D helicopters that date to 1975 and eight VH-60N choppers that joined the fleet in 1989. The helicopters have been upgraded over time, but many feel they are nearing the end of their useful lives and need to be replaced. The Pentagon expects a new fleet of 21 helicopters, possibly a version of the existing S-92, to be ready starting in 2020 at an unspecified cost.

link

[Jesus Malverde]

1. Surprised this didn't jump out as more interesting...

The opening paragraphs to your link.

The last time the Pentagon tried to upgrade the president’s coolest ride — the fleet of helicopters that drop him at his doorstep on the South Lawn of the White House — it didn’t go well. Costs doubled. Delays sparked ridicule, then outrage. And President Obama, then just a few weeks in office, said it was “an example of the procurement process gone amok” before defense officials killed the program outright.

It was an embarrassing debacle that cost $3.2 billion and produced no usable helicopter, turning an iconic symbol of presidential power into an illustration of government waste and incompetence. Now, five years later, the aircraft are more in need of replacement than ever, some almost 40 years old.

[hfojvt]

2. that's crazy

they could have given me just $500,000 and I would have given them zero helicopters.

How the heck does it cost $3.2 billion to get nothing?

Sartre must be rolling in his grave.

[Jesus Malverde]

3. DUZY...

"they could have given me just $500,000 and I would have given them zero helicopters. "

[tammywammy]

5. Changing requirements inflates the cost

With the previous attempt, the government kept changing what they wanted on the helicopter. Each change cost money and delays the schedule. Companies bid on specific proposals, but when they change after the fact and change a lot, you get debacles like that. Ultimately, they ended up canceling the program before the helicopters had been built.

They need to be replaced, so hopefully it goes better this time around.

[Major Nikon]

7. You're obviously an amateur

I would have bid it for $250,000 to undercut you, then tripled my price in cost overruns.

Seriously, though I doubt all $3.2 billion is going to waste. No doubt quite a bit of that went to ancillary systems which will translate to whatever airframe they select. The previous contract, like the one they are now considering, was based on an existing airframe, so it's not as if they were designing a helicopter from the ground up.

[oldandhappy]

4. At an unspecified cost.

yep. got it. Many many dollars. sigh. Why so many? We have only one president at a time.

[tammywammy]

6. Once awarded it'll have a cost associated with it. n/t

[yortsed snacilbuper]

8. K&R