Four companies have decided not to bid for the Air Force’s program to replace its HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter.
European Aeronautic and Space Co., Boeing [BA] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] recently confirmed they decided not to move forward on the Air Force’s Combat Rescue Helicopter program, which has a cap of $6.8 billion. Boeing also decided not to bid as a teammate of Bell Helicopter, a division of Textron [TXT]. That leaves Sikorsky, a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX], teaming with Lockheed Martin [LMT] as the sole biddor for the program. Sikorsky develops the HH-60s currently used by the Air Force.
Northrop Grumman was to team with AugustaWestland, a division of Finmeccanica.
Sikorsky spokesman Frans Jurgens said recently the company plans to continue with its proposal, but wouldn’t specify what the company planned to offer. Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell-Jones said recently in a statement the company thoroughly evaluated the request for proposal (RFP) requirements before making its decision.
“A thorough analysis of the final RFP has been conducted and Northrop Grumman has determined that it will not submit a bid to the U.S. Air Force for the Combat Rescue Helicopter program,” Mitchell-Jones said. “We’ve reached this conclusion based on an extensive evaluation of customer requirements under the current RFP.”
Mitchell-Jones said recently the company still plans to bid on the Navy’s new presidential helicopter competition.
Boeing spokesman Damien Mills said while both Boeing’s H-47 Chinook helicopter and Bell-Boeing’s V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft have well-documented successes conducting search and rescue missions, neither aircraft is “competitive for this program as it is currently structured.”
“We are certain, however, that both the Chinook and the V-22 will continue to perform search and rescue missions especially in high altitude locations or long distance situations,” Mills said.
Bell Helicopter spokeswoman Bridget Bishop said Bell-Boeing’s V-22 offering would successfully fill the CRH mission and, additionally, the Bell Helicopter UH-1Y would also “effectively accomplish” the CRH mission.
“Unfortunately, the CRH requirements, as written, do not accommodate advanced technologies such as the V-22 or the UH-1Y, which offer lower overall operating costs,” Bishop said. “Consequently, neither product will be offered as a solution for the CRH program.”
Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick recently wouldn’t comment on how the service planned to proceed with the competition moving forward in light of competitors dropping out. Gulick said in a statement the service is committed to a fair, open and transparent process to select a new combat search and rescue helicopter that meets the established warfighter requirements at an affordable price for the taxpayer.
“To ensure this occurs, we are prohibited from releasing information while in the request for proposal and selection processes,” Gulick said. “Once we select and announce the final contractor, we will be able to openly discuss the details of the CRH program.”
According to a posting on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the Air Force would most likely purchase 112 new helicopters, though the RFP has been structured to handle fluctuations in quantity.