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Presidential Copter Becomes Symbol
For Defense Programs ‘Gone Amok’
The VH-71 presidential helicopter is in for a
bumpy ride this year as Congress and the administration of President Barack Obama make the embattled program a poster child of all that’s wrong with
Pentagon weapons buying.
In February, Obama called the Navy-run program
an example of defense acquisition programs that have
“gone amok,” adding that his current helicopter —
Marine One — suits him just fine.
“The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate
to me,” Obama quipped. “Of course, I’ve never had a
helicopter before.”
The administration’s way forward on the program
will not be known until later this month, when officials send the much-anticipated details of the
Pentagon’s fiscal 2010 budget to Capitol Hill. But
Obama’s comments, given at the White House’s Feb. 23
fiscal responsibility summit — combined with a vow
from the president soon after about the need to get
control of the Pentagon’s contracting processes — have
many in Washington betting the multibillion-dollar
program will be on the chopping block.
Further fueling speculation over the helicopter’s
future is growing frustration from key decision-makers
on Capitol Hill who have indicated they have little
patience left for the program, which has posted skyrocketing costs and serious schedule delays.
LOCKHEED MARTIN
The Navy now estimates the VH-71 presidential helicopter program will cost $13 billion — more than double the
original estimate of $6.1 billion. Skyrocketing costs and
scheduling delays have put the program in serious jeopardy and made it a popular target for critics of the
defense acquisition process.
“We can’t afford to have a helicopter built for the president of the
United States that costs more than
Air Force One,” Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member
John McCain, R-Ariz., said Feb. 24.
The Navy has notified Congress
that the cost of the program is now
estimated at $13 billion — more
than double the original estimate of
$6.1 billion and $1.8 billion over
an estimate provided to Capitol Hill
last year, several congressional
sources said.
That new estimate brings the
total per-helicopter price to nearly
$470 million. By comparison, the
Air Force’s F- 22 Raptor fighter jet,
the most advanced and expensive
fighter in the service’s history, which
has gone through its share of cost
hikes, totals $340 million a plane.
In 2005, an industry team led by
Lockheed Martin and Agusta-
Westland, a subsidiary of Italian firm
Finmeccanica, beat out Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft for the prized
contract to replace Marine One.
The goal was to take an off-the-shelf helicopter, heavily modify it
and turn it into a fleet of helicopters that serve as a presidential
office-in-the-sky for short trips,
such as those taken from the White
House to Andrews Air Force Base,
Md., or Camp David, Pa. But the
