Pentagon Reviews Health of Helicopter Industrial Base

Pentagon Reviews Health of Helicopter Industrial Base

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{EXCERPT} By Robert Wall 08/15/2004 03:26:37 PM

WHERE'S THE INNOVATION?

The Pentagon is taking aim at some of its helicopter suppliers,
expressing concern that their focus on after-market support has come
at the expense of innovation.

But industry representatives disagree with many of the findings,
arguing that they aren't ground in reality.

The study is the first broad assessment of the rotorcraft industrial
base since the cancellation of the RAH-66 Comanche earlier this year.
It is also the first review since several major helicopter programs
ran over budget in 2001. The overall impression is that companies have
made improvements and there's little risk of a shrinking vendor base.
An apparent lack of innovation from industry emerges as the Pentagon's
biggest concern.

However, the recommendations offered in the 42-page study could shake
up the Defense Dept.'s traditional helicopter p...

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---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com
(310) 532-0634

Innovation went away along with job security. Boeing's been laying off
thousands of workers since 2000. Sikorsky and Bell have been doing the
same. Interesting attitude from Pentagon: first they cut the Comanche
and bring the Osprey production to a crawl. And now they want to know
where innovation is... Pentagon needs to decide what it wants, stick to
the plan and leave the innovation part to the engineers.

--
Regards,

Venik

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