"Marine One" to be replaced (again)

[onyx39]

Didn't they go down this route a couple of years ago and then shelve the idea?

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/us-navy-...

[Eric Mc]

These days, it takes a decade to make a procurement decision - 10 more years for the ensuing court cases and bribery alegations to work their way through the courts - and then 20 years to build the thing.

[mrloudly]

onyx39 said:

Didn't they go down this route a couple of years ago and then shelve the idea?

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/us-navy-...

They did, and the then new president Obama said "We don't need a new one, cancel the order"... Obviously, feet now well under the table and nose in the trough...

[Eric Mc]

Aren't they still using the S-62s? They must be over 40 years old by now.

[onyx39]

Eric Mc said:

Aren't they still using the S-62s? They must be over 40 years old by now.

from Wikipedia (so to be taken with a pinch of salt obviously.

"The VH-3D replaced some VH-3As in 1978, and the remaining VH-3As were replaced by the VH-60N beginning in 1989"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_One#Current_op...

[ColinM50]

Yes last time round, when Bush was prez, they ordered the best helicopter fro the job, EH101 and to say the lest the American manufacturers were seething about the orde going abroad and when Osama took over he cancelled it. At the time said they didn't need a new fleet of M1's but IMHO the reality is it's not made in Merka. Westland spent millions building the first two or I think five(??). Not sure what stage they got to in the build process but it was a long way down the road, may even have test flown the first one though not sure about that. Someone working at Westlands would tell us? My money's on it sitting in the corner of a hangar somewhere under a tarpaulin with a "do not disturb" sign on it.

Anyway it's quietened down and everyone's forgotten about the earlier order and I guess they've paid the compensation so surprise surprise they're now going to put it out for re-tender. Betcha the order goes to an American company

[Elroy Blue]

The previous helicopters (which were over budget because the US kept changing the spec) were sold to Canada who used them as spares for their own fleet.

[Simpo Two]

It's an interesting reversal of how the Brits do things. We start to build it at home, then after years and billions of pounds, cancel it and buy foreign...

[ninja-lewis]

Didn't the last procurement fail because the White House, Secret Service and US Navy keep trying to stuff more equipment in the helicopter, forcing upgrades to the engines, rotors, gearboxes and tail unit (essentially a whole new helicopter)? The project creeped so far that they would've struggled to get everything in a new Chinook or H-53K.

Hope they've learnt their lesson.

[onyx39]

ninja-lewis said:

Didn't the last procurement fail because the White House, Secret Service and US Navy keep trying to stuff more equipment in the helicopter, forcing upgrades to the engines, rotors, gearboxes and tail unit (essentially a whole new helicopter)? The project creeped so far that they would've struggled to get everything in a new Chinook or H-53K.

Hope they've learnt their lesson.

that may have been the official line, I think the bottom line was, as above, the US Defence Industry threw a hissy fit..

Would love to see an A380 as Air Force One too...