VH-71 Kestrel / Marine One
The Navy will acquire a fleet of 23 operational helicopters to serve as a safe and secure “Oval Office in the Sky” for future Presidents. On 28 January 2005 the Department of Defense announced that the team led by Lockheed Martin Systems Integration, Owego, NY, had been selected to build the new presidential helicopter (VXX) based on its US101 medium lift helicopter. This $1.7 billion, cost plus award fee contract will launch the VXX program’s system development and demonstration phase during which the program will integrate a “system of systems” with a modern, in-production aircraft to provide the president with safe and reliable helicopter transportation.
The program was originally estimated to cost $6.1 billion. The program initially planned to procure 23 VH-71 operational aircraft and three test aircraft at an expected per unit cost of approximately $82 million per aircraft (initial increments) and approximately $110 million per aircraft in the final configuration. By July 2007 the overall program cost was $6.2 billion, with research and development cost of $3,703 million and procurement cost $2,332 million for 28 helicopters, yielding a $270 million unit cost. In March 2008 Defense Department Undersecretary for Acquisition John Young told reporters that the cost estimate for the new helicopter had grown to $7.5 billion. On 17 March 2008 the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had confirmed that the cost of the fleet of 28 new helicopters has increased from $6.1 billion when the contract was signed in 2005 to $11.2 billion, with unit cost growing to cost $400 million.
Team US101, which combines the collective capabilities of Lockheed Martin, AgustaWestland and Bell Helicopter Textron, was formed to develop an American variant of AgustaWestland’s successful EH101 multimission helicopter for the U.S. marketplace. The US101 team led by Lockheed Martin was committed to building the aircraft in America, sourcing more than 65 percent of the components from American suppliers. Built by Bell Helicopter in Texas, integrated by Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in New York, powered by GE Aircraft Engines in Massachusetts, and supplied by more than 200 American companies across 41 states, including some of America’s leading aerospace companies such as General Electric, ITT, Northrop Grumman, Kaman Aerospace and Palomar Products.
On June 12, 2006 Lockheed Martin executives were joined by members of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, New York congressional delegation, and state and local elected officials, to formally open the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Integration Facility in Owego, New York. The new 176,000-square-foot facility features aircraft integration hangars, program management and engineering office space, systems integration laboratories, aircraft parts storage, and maintenance and helicopter paint facilities. The complex also includes a new helicopter flight operations area.
The Presidential Helicopter Replacement (VH-71) is a dual-piloted, multi-engine vertical take-off and landing aircraft that will bring the latest vertical lift and command and control communication technology to the primary helicopter platform employed by HMX-1. The VH-71 will be capable of operating day or night, in adverse weather worldwide, in climates including arctic, desert, mountainous, littoral, and tropical.
Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) is required to provide safe and timely transportation for the President and Vice President of the United States, heads of state and others as directed by the White House Military Office (WHMO). Currently two Type, Model, Series (TMS) aircraft are used by HMX-1 for the Presidential support mission – the VH-3D and the VH-60N. The VH-71 program provides the replacement helicopter for the VH-3D and VH-60N. The future “Marine One” will be the world’s most technologically advanced helicopter, designed to safely and reliably transport the president, vice president, heads of state and other official parties both at home and abroad with mobile “oval office in the sky” capabilities.
In order for the VH-71 to be available to most effectively assume Presidential vertical lift mission by FY10, two Increments are being developed. FY09 funds were adjusted due to Increment Two execution associated with concurrency with Increment One development, design, and production. Funding adjustments will be required in FY10 and beyond to extend SDD allowing for reduced risk associated with schedule and concurrency of development. The program is in the process of reassessing the VH-71 program. Assessment recommendations will be forwarded to adjust, as required, fiscal years beyond FY09 during the FY10 budget process.
Project 3058 Increment One: VH-71 Increment One will provide an initial limited capability to fulfill the immediate Presidential lift requirement. Three (3) test article aircraft, system design and development (SDD) efforts, maintenance trainers, and associated logistics were initiated in 2005 for Increment One. Included in the SDD contract were five (5) Increment One pilot production aircraft to support Initial Operational Capability (IOC). A fatigue test article is procured in FY09 to extend the service life of Increment One aircraft beyond 1500 fight hours. Adjustments will be required for funding beyond FY09 to extend SDD allowing for the completion of Increment One. Funding adjustments will be required in FY10 and beyond to extend SDD allowing for reduced risk associated with schedule and concurrency of development. FY 2008 execution is augmented by $465.5M of FY 2007 funds carried over to FY 2008. Total funding planned for execution in FY 2008 was $690.9M.
Project 3065 - Increment Two: VH-71 Increment Two will be developed to complete all of the Presidential support requirements. Two test articles will be procured in FY09 to accommodate air vehicle structural differences between Increment 1 and 2 (main gear box, drive train, engines, tail unit and main rotor blades). The second test vehicle is being procured instead of modifying one of the Increment 1 test vehicles due to the extent of the air vehicle structural differences. Funding adjustments will be required in FY10 and beyond to extend SDD allowing for reduced risk associated with schedule and concurrency of development.
As of early-2007 GAO found that this design may not be useable to meet increment two performance requirements. The range requirement in the prime contract was reduced because the estimated weight of the aircraft is over 1,200 pounds more than the original limit. The program was reassessing the requirements for increment two and considering cost, schedule, and performance trade-offs because the current program may not be executable. Concurrency in development, design, and production continues to put the program at risk for cost growth and schedule delays.
In January 2005, the VH-71 program committed to the production of five aircraft without a final design or fully defined production processes. The program’s August 2006 design review was held ten months later than planned and did not meet the Navy’s criteria for a successful system-level review. An additional design review was planned for February 2007. In August 2006, 87 percent of the program’s drawings were releasable to manufacturing with the remaining drawings primarily related to installation.
In the Air Force CSAR-X competition in late 2006, LMSI received a past performance rating of little confidence (indicating that a substantial doubt existed that the offeror would successfully perform the required effort) due to unsatisfactory performance under its current contract to design, develop and field the VH-71 Presidential helicopter, a contract evaluated as highly relevant to this procurement. the Air Force considered the VH-71 contract to be the most “highly relevant” contract for LMSI, because the VH-71 helicopter was based on the same helicopter (EH101) as LMSI’s proposed CSAR-X helicopter, and the VH-71 contract effort involved a similar teaming arrangement with AgustaWestland. The SSA noted that LMSI had shown under the VH-71 contract that it “could not reliably meet important schedule requirements and had difficulty in systems engineering flow-downs to their subcontractors,”, and cited LMSI’s poor performance as one of the principal bases for his determination that, notwithstanding its lower evaluated cost/price, LMSI’s proposal nevertheless did not represent the best value.
The program obtained customer agreement to reduce the range requirement in the prime contract and as of early 2007 was working to stabilize the weight of the aircraft. The program also obtained customer agreement to defer several other requirements to increment two, including those related to the auxiliary power unit and rotor track and balance technology. Concurrency in development, design, and production continues to drive the risk of cost growth and schedule delays on the program. Design development will continue through low-rate initial production as the program concurrently develops its manufacturing processes, increasing the likelihood that components being procured may have to be reworked to meet the final design.
The five increment one aircraft will have a limited service life and its design may not be usable for increment two. Changes to the main gear box, drive train, engines, tail unit, and main rotor blades are required to meet increment two performance requirements. Program officials anticipated that five additional increment two aircraft will be produced to support full operational capability in 2015 rather than modifying increment one aircraft to the increment two configuration.
On 03 July 2007 the VH-71 helicopter completed its first flight at AgustaWestland’s facility in Yeovil, U.K., marking a significant milestone in the development of the United States’ presidential aircraft. The designated test vehicle #2, built under contract to the U.S. Navy, was assembled and prepared at an AgustaWestland facility. It is the first test aircraft built specifically for the VH-71 presidential helicopters program. During the 40-minute flight, the AgustaWestland chief test pilot, Don Maclaine, and senior test pilot, Dick Trueman, performed general aircraft handling checks, tested flight characteristics at varying speeds up to 156 mph and evaluated the on-board avionics systems.
Lockheed missed a key deadline in September 2007 when it failed to deliver a proposal for extending the second increment. In a draft program budget decision issued in the Fall of 2008, Pentagon officials had proposed a five-year delay in the initial operational capability of the second increment of VH-71s, shifting production from FY-09 to FY-14.
The Conference Report On H.R. 1585, National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2008 -- (House of Representatives - December 06, 2007) addressed the VH-71 program. The House bill contained a provision (sec. 123) that would prevent any obligation or expenditure of funds from Aircraft Procurement, Navy for final assembly of more than five VH-71 presidential transport helicopters, unless final assembly of those helicopters would be carried out in the United States. The Senate amendment contained no similar provision. The House receded. The conferees supported the current program of record, in which the Navy intends to assemble no more than five VH-71 presidential helicopters outside the United States. The conferees directed that, before making any decision to change the location of final assembly for helicopters beyond the first five in the VH-71 acquisition strategy, the Secretary of Defense provide at least a 60-day notice to the congressional defense committees before implementing any such change. The conferees expect that the current acquisition strategy program of record will remain in place absent an extraordinary circumstance.
In December 2007 the U.S. Navy temporarily halted "Increment 2" development of the VH-71 Marine One and was reevaluating available options. In January 2008 the Navy said in a statement "The VH-71 program is currently restructuring the Increment 2 program. Cost and schedule impacts will not be fully known until our assessment is complete, thoroughly vetted and approved by Department of Defense leadership. Any information regarding cost and schedule is pre-decisional in nature. Once we have an approved schedule, it will continue to be event-driven and one that places the president in a safe and fully tested platform."
Defense Department under-secretary John Young acknowledged "The program has encountered challenges in seeking to meet all the requirements within the budget. While the requirements have not changed, the detailed work on helicopter development and integration has identified technical challenges in meeting the requirements within the planned budget and schedule. In December, as a result of these technical challenges, the Defense Department issued a stop-work order for the Increment 2 design."
In February 2008 Rep. Rosa DeLauro and 10 other lawmakers wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates urging him to rebid the contract for the Marine One helicopter program, citing reports of cost overruns. DeLauro said the program should be re-bid, allowing the rejected Sikorsky's proposal -- the VH-92 -- back in the running. "The American taxpayer should no longer be forced to shoulder the cost of Lockheed Martin’s inexperience with building helicopters from the ground up. ... Coupled with the thousands of requirement changes, this official acknowledgement of the significant cost overruns for the VH-71 presidential helicopter program demonstrates why the Defense Department needs to rebid this contract for what is in essence an entirely new helicopter."
Kestrel Nomenclature
The American kestrel is one of the most common and colorful birds of prey in North America. Because of its small size and colorful plumage, it can easily be mistaken for a songbird as it sits atop a utility pole or wire. However, once witnessed hovering over an open field in search of prey, the kestrel’s predatory nature becomes apparent. A member of the falcon family, the American kestrel is closely related to the peregrine falcon and merlin. The bird is often referred to as the sparrow hawk because of its small size. Its scientific name, Falco sparverius, holds the Latin meaning, "falcon of the sparrows." Although its scientific name and the commonly used name "sparrow hawk" imply that the kestrel feeds exclusively on small birds, the majority of the kestrel's diet consists of insects and small mammals. As is the case with many beneficial predator species, the kestrel’s value lies in the role it plays in keeping insect and small rodent populations in check.
The British-built Kestrel was designed with vertical/short takeoff and landing capabilities, making it possible to operate from grass or semi-prepared surfaces offering great operational flexibility. Four adjustable exhaust nozzles beneath the wing roots could be rotated to provide thrust for vertical, backward or hovering flight as well as conventional forward movement. Six of these trial aircraft were later delivered to the United States where, as XV-6As, they underwent additional testing of V/STOL fighter techniques. An improved version, known as the Harrier, became the world’s first operational V/STOL fighter when it entered Royal Air Force service in 1969.
The TG-10C Kestrel (Blanik L-13AC) is a conventional two-place tandem sailplane. It is used by the 94 FTS for specialized upgrade training to include spin and aerobatic training. Competition aerobatics are flown at the regional and national level in the TG-10C. The TG-10C is one of the world's most common initial soaring trainers.
