$130 Million for Helicopter Obama Doesn't Want

[Renew Deal]

Source: Sphere

(Dec. 16) -- What he really wants is health care reform. But Congress' Christmas present to President Barack Obama may instead be a helicopter he insists he doesn't need. The 2010 defense appropriations bill is expected to provide more than $100 million to continue work on the VH-71 -- the next Marine One -- even though it was officially terminated this spring.

"The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me," Obama joked in February when asked about the troubled program, whose costs had spiraled to over $13 billion. "Of course, I've never had a helicopter before -- maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it."

Just a few months later, in May, the Pentagon officially canceled the program to build the new fleet of the helicopters.

Managed by the U.S. Navy, the VH-71 is under contract to a team of companies led by Lockheed Martin and based on a commercial helicopter produced by AgustaWestland. Five helicopters were built before the contract was deep-sixed.

So why fund a terminated program? Either way, the government owes the contractor cancellation fees, but in this case the requested $130 million appropriation looks like Lockheed and its congressional allies are trying (to borrow a phrase) to keep hope alive.

Read more: http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/130-million-for-helicopter-obama-says-he-doesnt-want/19282313

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:banghead:

[ixion]

1. Yeah, they've always got a few billion for the MIC

it's we, the taxpayer, who doesn't get squat for our money.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. Even if Obama does not want, it's the Marines job to protect him.

Perhaps some people think a new helicpter would go a long way for protection when hes with the Navy.
The current helicpter designs are getting pretty dated.
If it were my job to protect the president, I'd want the best I could get. :shrug:

Besides, it helps save hundreds of American jobs. Not such a bad thing IMO.

[saigon68]

3. I'm sure homeless veterans will applaud this

"Pass the soup, I'm hungry", said one.

[cutlassmama]

4. It may save jobs, but what about all the other stuff the money could do for Americans?

[Romulox]

6. The US military is under CIVILIAN control. Just thought you should know. nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. The current helos are Korean era design and are basically deathtraps in case of a

major in flight emergency. A new one is well overdue for that reason alone.

Prior versions were a government/contractor hybrid. However this version was contractor only. They kept repeating the analysis until they found a way not to have the team that has kept Marine 1 updated and flying participate in the latest version.

A better answer would be to return to that paradigm and fund at a lower level until times are better and then build a mature design at much lower risk.

[brendan120678]

5. Interesting story...

More from the article:
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It's hard to know precisely what factors drove up the price of the VH-71, since much of the equipment installed on the helicopter is classified. But at least some items on the government's wish list appeared capricious. "Rumor had it that the helicopter doors were moved from one side to the other," Aboulafia says. "Bizarre stuff."

There are also amenities, like a bathroom and a kitchen, that further increasing the total price tag.

Aboulafia, who visited Lockheed's facility in Owego, N.Y., notes that the airframes are just sitting in the factory -- and that rebooting a new presidential helicopter program from scratch in the future would be a losing proposition for everyone. "It makes zero sense," he says. "It's not as if there are other possible contenders."

Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey, whose New York district includes Owego, has spearheaded efforts to keep the program going, and argues that starting over would cost the Pentagon billions more. The approximately $130 million the current draft of the defense bill requests for the helicopters is clearly not enough to complete the $13 billion program; instead, it's intended to help keep workers in place and some momentum intact. "It's for continued work on communications and software," says Jeff Lieberson, a spokesman for Hinchey.
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I'll admit, I was a big proponent of this airframe over the Sikorsky alternative when the source selection was ongoing. Probably because I'm originally from that area.

[SlipperySlope]

7. If he doesn't want it, he is welcome to give it to me.

I'm not kidding - I think it would be a blast to own a Presidential helicopter, even if I could never afford to fly it.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Sounds like you could live in it.

[Joe Chi Minh]

9. Dangerous vehicles.

[merwin]

10. Either that or more money that can be re-appropraited to "off the books" missions.

[SemperEadem]

11. why fund a terminated program? In whose district is it being built?

find the representative and senator of that district/state and you will find the reason for this.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

12. Owego, New York ---> Rep. Hinchey (D)

Has been a NY Rep almost 17 yrs. Seems fairly progressive.
He's in the Comittee on Appropriations (Subcommittee on Defense).

$100M is alot of money and jobs for his district.
I would hope any Representative fights for local jobs like this.

[Arkana]

13. Heh.

Well, there's really very little Obama can do if the Secret Service decides he needs an upgraded helicopter (short of going down to the assembly yard and beating up the foreman).