Two lawmakers who oversee the VH-71 presidential helicopter program said they have concerns about the over-budget replacement effort and are ready to seek changes after hearing how the executive branch wants to proceed.
Some lawmakers–including House Appropriations Defense subcommittee (HAC-D) Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) and Lockheed Martin [LMT] supporters–are calling for keeping the program with a Lockheed Martin-Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT]-AgustaWestland team, but buying only the first of two planned increments of the aircraft.
The heads of the House and Senate authorization panels with oversight of the chopper program, meanwhile, are taking different approaches.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I/D-Conn.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Airland subcommittee and represents incumbent presidential helicopter maker Sikorsky [UTX], said recently he stands with other Connecticut lawmakers in calling for including Sikorsky in the replacement effort. Yet he said just if and how that could be done won’t be known until after the Pentagon completes a review of the Lockheed Martin team’s work.
The Navy manages the VH-71 program and notified Congress in January it suffered a critical cost breach requiring the Pentagon to recertify it to Congress under the Nunn-McCurdy law.
“We’re disappointed when Sikorsky didn’t get this; we’d like to see them have a shot at it,” Lieberman told sister publication Defense Daily. “My position is clear, but now it’s in a (Nunn-McCurdy) review….(The administration has) got to take the next step. We’re standing ready.”
Lieberman said he does not know, contractually, if or how Sikorsky could become involved. He said the Navy possibly could buy the increment-one helicopters from Lockheed Martin and then consider buying a Sikorsky version, maybe through a new competition or modification of an existing Sikorsky program.
“I’m not sure exactly how it could be done,” the senator said, adding he believes the government would have to satisfy its contractual obligation to the Lockheed Martin team.
Sikorsky lost the next-generation presidential helicopter competition to the Lockheed Martin team in 2005 and did not protest the award. Lockheed Martin is nearing completion on the increment-one helicopters.
Meanwhile, House Armed Services Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), who previously said he wanted to hold a VH-71 hearing to force Lockheed Martin to justify the program’s continuation, said last Thursday his panel will wait to hear President Obama’s wishes.
“It’s hard until we hear from him,” Taylor told sister publication Defense Daily. “This is not your typical weapon system. This is something that is really geared for the president of the United States, and I want to let him have his say.”
Obama, at a Feb. 23 White House fiscal summit, called the presidential helicopter effort “an example of the procurement process gone amok” and said he had talked to Defense Secretary Robert Gates about a “thorough review of the helicopter situation.” He was asked about it by former White House rival Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Taylor acknowledged problems with the VH-71 program were spurred by added requirements for the aircraft the executive branch sought after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“If things have changed that much, and if the president’s willing to wait a while, because it has changed so much and the price has grown so much, I think in fairness to all involved, including the American taxpayer, we ought to revisit it, which would mean hear everybody’s proposals and then make a decision from there,” Taylor said.
The congressman said he had never heard the idea of buying from the Lockheed Martin team only increment-one aircraft.
That approach was suggested in a March 16 letter to Obama from 13 House members, including some from New York, where Lockheed Martin is working on VH-71.
They note the $3 billion already invested in the program, which they said is viewed as a marked improvement over the current aging helicopters.
“Based on the outstanding performance of this aircraft, we urge you to consider expanding the Increment 1 fleet to make it the long-term solution if the more advanced Increment 2 aircraft cannot be procured in a cost-effective manner,” the letter says. The lawmakers add they believe the Navy could buy a full fleet of 23 Increment 1 helicopters within the original budget profile.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), one of the letter’s primary signers and a HAC-D member, told sister publication Defense Daily Monday that defense officials have already determined through an objective analysis that the Lockheed Martin approach to the presidential helicopters is the most effective.
“They’re not political, they’re not representing any part of the country, they’re representing the entire country,” Hinchey said. “They’re representing the safety and the security of the president.”
Murtha told a defense-industry gathering on March 12 that has strongly advocated to administration officials that they buy only the increment-one helicopters from the Lockheed Martin team, and not delay the program.
“We will build the one (increment), I hope the administration will agree to that, and we won’t build the other (second) version,” Murtha said.