Flying high: Lockheed wins presidential helicopter contract

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Flying high
Lockheed Martin yesterday won a $1.7 billion contract to build a new
fleet of presidential helicopters, a prestigious award for the Bethesda
defense contractor and its European partners, who will make part of the
aircraft.
at http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20050128-100241-9135r.htm

Lockheed Team Wins Redesign Of Marine One
For Sikorsky, Loss of Contract Also Symbolizes Slip in Prestige
at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45662-2005Jan28.html

[JD]

Is this good?
JD

[Tiger]

JD wrote:

>Is this good?
>JD
>
>
>
>
Well if you work at Sikorsky, not really. As a overall deal? It's Ok I
guess.

[Jeroen Wenting]

"Tiger" > wrote in message
...
> JD wrote:
>
> >Is this good?
> >JD
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Well if you work at Sikorsky, not really. As a overall deal? It's Ok I
> guess.
>

Apart from the French parts...
Is there a competitor left?

[JJ]

" > wrote:

>Flying high
>Lockheed Martin yesterday won a $1.7 billion contract to build a new
>fleet of presidential helicopters, a prestigious award for the Bethesda
>defense contractor and its European partners, who will make part of the
>aircraft.
>at http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20050128-100241-9135r.htm

"Mr. Young said the total Marine One development and acquisition cost
would be $6.1 billion for 23 helicopters, with the first scheduled for
delivery in October 2009. Mr. Young said the total Marine One
development and acquisition cost would be $6.1 billion for 23
helicopters, with the first scheduled for delivery in October 2009."

Whoa! $6.1 Billion for 23 units is $265 million per helicopter.
I dunno sounds like a lot...too much actually.

Jay

[D]

----------
In article >,
(JJ) wrote:

> "Mr. Young said the total Marine One development and acquisition cost
> would be $6.1 billion for 23 helicopters, with the first scheduled for
> delivery in October 2009. Mr. Young said the total Marine One
> development and acquisition cost would be $6.1 billion for 23
> helicopters, with the first scheduled for delivery in October 2009."
>
> Whoa! $6.1 Billion for 23 units is $265 million per helicopter.
> I dunno sounds like a lot...too much actually.

Actually, I believe this is actually for several decades of support and
maintenance. They're not just buying helicopters, but a long-term service
contract.



D

[JJ]

"D" > wrote:

>----------
>In article >,
(JJ) wrote:
>
>> "Mr. Young said the total Marine One development and acquisition cost
>> would be $6.1 billion for 23 helicopters, with the first scheduled for
>> delivery in October 2009. Mr. Young said the total Marine One
>> development and acquisition cost would be $6.1 billion for 23
>> helicopters, with the first scheduled for delivery in October 2009."
>>
>> Whoa! $6.1 Billion for 23 units is $265 million per helicopter.
>> I dunno sounds like a lot...too much actually.
>
>Actually, I believe this is actually for several decades of support and
>maintenance. They're not just buying helicopters, but a long-term service
>contract.
>D

I'll go read the article again - don't they usually say something
about "life cycle costs" for support and maintenance? The article
just says development (can be BIG bucks) and acquisition costs.

Of course, newspaper articles are never wrong. :-)

Jay

[Lee Witten]

(JJ) wrote in news:4212f516.129150218
@news2.flex.com:
> Whoa! $6.1 Billion for 23 units is $265 million per helicopter.
> I dunno sounds like a lot...too much actually.

And of course, one may wonder why we need 23 helicopters for 1 president?

--lw--

[D]

----------
In article >, Lee Witten >
wrote:

>> Whoa! $6.1 Billion for 23 units is $265 million per helicopter.
>> I dunno sounds like a lot...too much actually.
>
> And of course, one may wonder why we need 23 helicopters for 1 president?

Because they serve people other than the President. And there are other
security concerns as well.

For starters, whenever Marine One flies, there are two other identical
helicopters flying with it, as decoys. I live near Washington and have
watched Marine One come in to land at the White House. If you look, you can
usually see the other two helos flying around. I have also seen three of
them land down on the Mall, carrying a lot of VIPs. I think that the German
Prime Minister was in town that time. Plus they're going to have several
that are deployable, several in training, several in maintenance.

I think that 23 is somewhat high, but I can easily see how they would need
more than a dozen of them.



D

[Thomas Schoene]

JJ wrote:

> Whoa! $6.1 Billion for 23 units is $265 million per helicopter.
> I dunno sounds like a lot...too much actually.

The helos themselves are complex, with a very elaborate commo and (one
assumes) self-protection outfit. That jacks up the price considerably right
there.

On top of the aircraft, there's a lot of associated infrastructure. The
Navy news website today has an illustration of the new test facility to be
built at Pax River specifically for the VXX program, at a cost of some $84
million (including new tower, air ops center, hangar, etc.). I suspect
that's necessary because of the requirement for total cradle-to-grave
security on the presidential helos. Similar costs will surely accrue for
other aspects of the program. Quantico will need new hangars too, for
example.

And running any high security program has its own costs. Not least will be
the cost of recruiting and employing a whole assembly line of people with
Yankee White clearances. They won't come cheap, especially since they know
they have LM over a barrel on this one. I wonder how many of Sikorsky's
cleared machinists will be moving from Bridgeport to Owego.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when
wrong to be put right." - Senator Carl Schurz, 1872

[[email protected]]

The Washington Post
January 29, 2005 Saturday
SECTION: Metro; B03
HEADLINE: Metro; In Brief
THE REGION
....MARYLAND
....The U.S. Navy awarded a $40 million contract to a Chantilly firm to
build
a facility for construction of presidential helicopters at the Patuxent
River Naval Air Station in St. Mary's County, officials said yesterday.
Hensel Phelps Construction Co. will build the hangar facility and
Lockheed
Martin was given $1.7 billion to build 23 helicopters for the Marine
Corps,
said the office of Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). Hoyer said that it was
one
of the largest construction projects in the Navy base's history and
that the
funding was a "very significant milestone" toward getting the facility
built. The Marine Helicopter Squadron transports the president, vice
president, other White House officials and foreign leaders. The two
types of
helicopters in the squadron need to be improved and receive updated
technology, Hoyer's office said...

Mike
Go Spad guys

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23 helicopters for the 23 people:

1) the President
2) the Vice-President
3) The First Lady, Mrs. Bush
4) Mrs. Cheney
5) the Chief of Staff
6) National Security Adviser
6) the assistant to the President
7) the assistant to the Vice-President
8) the deputy to the assistant to the President
9) the deputy o the assistant to the Vice-President
10) Director of the White House Military Office
11) Deputy Director of the White House Military Office
12) Chief of the Council of Economic Advisers to go to Wall Street
13) Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality to test the water
14) Director of the Office of Management & Budget to go to Capitol Hill
15) The Director of the National Drug Control Policy to go to Colombia
16) Head of the Office of Policy Development to see how our domestic
policy is doing
17) Director of the NAtional AIDS Policy to deliver meals to AIDS
patients
18) Director of the NAtional Economic Council to see how we spend our
tax dollars
19) Director of the Science and Technology Policy to see if S&T is
working
20) U.S. Trade Representative to see if our embargo on beef is working
21) Permanent Representative to UN to tell countries to vote for us or
lose foreign aid
22) Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, top secret missions
23) Me!!!