The All-American Team was important because the Government had long
insisted Presidential helo work be done in a secure manufacturing
environment crewed only by US citizens. VXX is also the helicopter for
the President of the United States, and that has some symbolic value.
All that, and concerns about crashworthiness and operating costs, went
out the window as payback to Berlusconi and Blair for their support in
OIF.

Don't take too much comfort in how Lockheed Martin values the American
aerospace worker -- they just won the Army Airborne Common Sensor
program with a Brazilian platform. The LM idea seems to be the
platform doesn't matter - it's the software that counts. Until, of
course, the Presidential platform flattens like a Merlin.

Oh, when the Comanche was cancelled, the undersecretary of the Army
admitted everyone on the contractor side had done just what had been
asked of them. The Army could never get its act, and its requirements
together.

As to Agusta Westland -- WG30.

HW

HW