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Lockheed Martin VH-71 Kestrel

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The VH-71 Kestrel, a variant of the AgustaWestland EH101, is being developed to replace the United States Marine Corps' Marine One Presidential transport fleet. It is being produced by the Lockheed Martin-led "US101 Team" of Lockheed Martin Systems Integration - Owego, AgustaWestland, AgustaWestlandBell and Bell Helicopter.

Development

EH101

Main article: AgustaWestland EH101

The EH101 was developed by EH Industries, a joint venture of the British Westland Aircraft and Italian Agusta companies. The aircraft first flew on October 9, 1987, and entered service with the Royal Navy in 2000.

US101

On 23 July 2002 Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland signed a 10-year agreement to jointly market, produce and support a medium-lift helicopter, an EH101 derivative called US101, in the United States.[1] The companies envisaged marketing the aircraft in three roles; US Air Force combat search and rescue, US Coast Guard search and rescue, and US Marine Corps executive transport.

On May 15 2003 AgustaWestland signed an agreement with Bell Helicopter to undertake final assembly of the US101 in the United States.[2] AgustaWestland will produce the main rotor blades and main fuselage sections at its Yeovil, UK facility. The company will produce other components, including the gearbox, at its Cascina Costa, Italy facility. This represents a work share of 36%. The remaining 64% work share is split between Lockheed Martin (31%) and Bell Helicopter (27%) and others (6%).[3]

VXX competition

The U.S. Department of Defense issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) on December 18, 2003 for the supply of 23 helicopters to replace the 11 VH-3Ds and 8 VH-60Ns of USMC HMX-1 squadron. This requirement was given the designation VXX (V being the prefix for VIP aircraft and XX representing the then unspecified numerical part of the designation).

Both AgustaWestland and Sikorsky responded to the RFP. Sikorsky proposed the VH-92, a variant of the H-92 Superhawk, in partnership with FlightSafety International, L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman, Rockwell Collins, Vought Aircraft Industries, and GE-Aviation.

On January 28, 2005 the Department of Defense announced that it had selected the US101 for the VXX programme. The US101 team was awarded a $1.7 billion contract for the VXX system development and demonstration (SDD) phase.[4] The price of the development later rose by 40% to $2.4 billion. [5] The full cost of the project is estimated at $6.1Bn[6], although some analysts expect the cost to rise above $7Bn, making this the most expensive helicopter ever, with a unit cost of $270m.[7]

As of March 2008, the program cost ballooned to $11.2b. [8]

VXX program Delays/Problems

In addition to rising costs, delays and engineering issues have plagued the VH-71's development.[9] During the ongoing CSAR-X contract controversy (in which the EH101 is LMSI's offering), the Air Force source selection authority has, on several occasions, referred to Lockheed's VH-71 program as having "unsatisfactory performance". These concerns with the VH-71 have caused the Air Force to cast doubts on LMSI's ability to supply helicopters for a potential CSAR program award; in March 2007 the initial GAO report which upheld Sikorsky and Lockheed's contract award protests versus Boeing's HH-47 mentioned "that LMSI had received a little confidence rating for past performance due to unsatisfactory performance under its current contract for the VH-71 Presidential helicopter, which was evaluated as the most highly relevant to this procurement. According to the SSA, LMSI had “show[n under that contract] that it could not reliably meet important schedule requirements and had difficulty in systems engineering flow-downs to their subcontractors.” [10]

In December 2007, DoD officials met with the White House Military Office to discuss the VH-71 program's future, as the Pentagon apparently wished to terminate the program due to multiple setbacks, budget issues, and design problems. The White House overruled a cancellation decision and the program was essentially put on hold while options are considered.[11]

Testing

The first test VH-71A, Test Vehicle #2 (TV2), made its initial flight on July 3, 2007 at AgustaWestland’s facility in Yeovil, UK.[12] Lockheed Martin is already using an EH101, designated TV-1, for initial testing in the USA, including landings on the White House lawn.

Variants

VH-71A
VH-71B

Other competitions

The US101 is also competing for two USAF contracts, the 141-aircraft Combat Search and Rescue Replacement (CSAR-X) project (originally won by the Boeing HH-47 on 10 November 2006, but now subject to a second procurement competition), and the 70-aircraft Common Vertical Lift Support Program (CVLSP).[13]

Operators

 United States

Specifications (EH-101)

This aircraft article is missing some (or all) of its specifications. If you have a source, you can help Wikipedia by adding them.

General characteristics

  • Crew: 4
  • Capacity:
    • 30 seated troops or
    • 45 standing troops or
    • 16 stretchers with medics

Performance

References

  1. ^ "Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland Announce Long-term Agreement for US101 Helicopter" Lockheed Martin Corp. July 23, 2002 (Press release)
  2. ^ "AgustaWestland Selects Bell Helicopter as Airframe Manufacturer for US101 Production"
  3. ^ "US101 Blows Away Sikorsky in $6.1 Billion VXX Competition" Air Forces Monthly
  4. ^ "Lockheed Martin to Build New Presidential Helicopter" U.S. Department of Defense January 28, 2005
  5. ^ "Presidential helicopter costs soar" flightglobal.com May 22 2007
  6. ^ TY: Feature creep and the new Marine One (VH-71)
  7. ^ VH-71 “Kestrel” / VXX Vertical Lift Aircraft
  8. ^ "Executive Branch Strikes VH-71 Deal" Aerospace Daily and Defense Report March 17, 2008
  9. ^ "Development hurdles ahead for future presidential helicopter" aionline.com
  10. ^ "B-299145.4, Sikorsky Aircraft Company; Lockheed Martin Systems, March 29, 2007" gao.gov
  11. ^ "VH-71 Presidential Helicopter on Hold" DefenseNews.com December 14, 2007
  12. ^ "First VH-71 presidential helicopter flies" flightglobal.com July 5, 2007
  13. ^ "CSAR-X" www.teamus101.com

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AgustaWestland EH101 Merlin.

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

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