Marine ONE.. made in Not the USA

[Navy1960]

YEOVIL, England, Sept 22, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The VH-71 presidential helicopter program achieved another major milestone today when the first operational pilot production helicopter (PP-1) completed its maiden flight at AgustaWestland's facility in Yeovil, England.


First VH-71 Presidential Helicopter Production Aircraft Takes Flight - MarketWatch


Back on Capitol Hill, the Marine One fallout was predictable. Congressional delegations from the affected states uniformly backed the helicopter model that boosted constituencies.
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D), for example, called the Navy's selection of the Lockheed team "a great day for Owego, the Southern Tier and all of New York [that] will provide the president of the United States with a state-of-the-art-helicopter [and] an Oval Office in the sky."
The winning Marine One model is a variation of Agusta-Westland's EH-101, pictured during its U.S. tour last year to
drum up support.

That reaction contrasted sharply with that of the congressional delegation from Connecticut, home base of Sikorsky, part of United Technologies Corp..
"Made in America should mean something," U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D) charged. "The Defense Department has some explaining to do."
Sen. Chris Dodd, (D), called Lockheed's contract award "an affront to the American worker," while Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D) labeled the decision "outrageously wrong."


Then Congress approves the purchase of over 1B for the purchase of thise helicopter for the president. So here is the update, First it has been decided that to fulfill the needs of the contract that the promised 1000 jobs will never happen and the majority of the contract will be fulfilled overseas. So the next president will be flying in a foreign made helicopter, approved by congress, and done so at the expense of the American Defense industry. So where is John McCain and Barack Obama stand in all this "crickets" they have no opinion.

So you still think congress has our best interests at heart?

 

[DiveCon]

congress doesnt have a clue
i opposed this back when it was passed

 

[Navy1960]

congress doesnt have a clue
i opposed this back when it was passed

Dive if people had any idea who badly managed the DoD was and the nature of these contracts they would be pretty upset. I find it simply amazing they can retire the F117 20 years ahead of schedule to make room for 12 more F22's in the budget because of lack of funding but yet can find an extra 150 Billion for racetracks, wooden arrows, and rum...

 

[DiveCon]

Dive if people had any idea who badly managed the DoD was and the nature of these contracts they would be pretty upset. I find it simply amazing they can retire the F117 20 years ahead of schedule to make room for 12 more F22's in the budget because of lack of funding but yet can find an extra 150 Billion for racetracks, wooden arrows, and rum...

thos whole bailout is a fiasco if you ask me
just like the cancels Comanche program, it was an exponetial leap in pilot safety, yet it was canceled as too expensive
we can always build more machines, we can not always find more pilots

 

[Navy1960]

thos whole bailout is a fiasco if you ask me
just like the cancels Comanche program, it was an exponetial leap in pilot safety, yet it was canceled as too expensive
we can always build more machines, we can not always find more pilots

Have you noticed how many programs have been cancelled lately? The funny thing is , on the comanche the Army still needs a scout helicopter and congress is now approving funds to take Vietnam era "littlebirds" and change out the avionics package and rebulid them.

 

[Navy1960]

When the Army killed off the stealthy RAH-66 Comanche attack chopper back in 2004, it commissioned a bunch of "quick and easy" new helicopter programs to fill the gap. At least one of them turned out to be not so quick, and not so easy. Bell's ARH-70 scout is two years late and now costs $6.4 billion for around 500 aircraft, instead of the original $3.6 billion.

Under any other circumstances, the ARH-70 would seem to be a prime candidate for cancellation, but it keeps stumbling along. "No viable alternative to it exists," Aviation.com explains in a new report. So who's to blame?

Analyst Loren Thompson "places the blame for the ARH-70 disaster squarely on the Army." "Operationally the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter is a success, it meets requirements. The unit cost went up due to the Army changing the requirements," Thompson told the magazine.

But wait! "At the Army's lower Program Objective Memoranda level, however, 'there is a lot of anger towards Bell' due to the perception that the company failed to deliver."

 

[DiveCon]

yup, DoD blames the company, the company blames the DoD

 

[Navy1960]

yup, DoD blames the company, the company blames the DoD

I just think when you look on TV and see the next president fly off after making that big speech about bringing American jobs back home then he hops on that 500 Million dollar Italian made helicopter will be sort of ironic.

 

[rayboyusmc]

I agree. This is a bunch of shit. We can't build our own helo's anymore?

Boeing didn't too bad building the CH-46 here in the USA. It's still flying 20 years after I retired and it was the first helo I flew when I got out of flight school.

This is all about money and businesses and people who don't really give a crap about our country and the jobs we need for our people.

 

[dilloduck]

I agree. This is a bunch of shit. We can't build our own helo's anymore?

Boeing didn't too bad building the CH-46 here in the USA. It's still flying 20 years after I retired and it was the first helo I flew when I got out of flight school.

This is all about money and businesses and people who don't really give a crap about our country and the jobs we need for our people.

Which is why McCain would be a better CIC. He knows the ropes--stick him up there where he is visable as hell. That knowledge can be put to use----Obama doesn't know squat about the military compared to McCain and you know what? We're gonna need to use it. Don't get me wrong--I think he is a horses ass, a RINO etc etc but dumping Obama on our troops is downright cruel.

 

[Navy1960]

I agree. This is a bunch of shit. We can't build our own helo's anymore?

Boeing didn't too bad building the CH-46 here in the USA. It's still flying 20 years after I retired and it was the first helo I flew when I got out of flight school.

This is all about money and businesses and people who don't really give a crap about our country and the jobs we need for our people.

I completely agree the CH-46 is a good sound bird as is the Sikorsky helicopters. You know what I find as very interesting in all this, the number of lobbyists for these firms that happen to making donations for the very first time to campaigns. Take a look at the EADS contract on the Boeing tanker deal. These people up in congress don't give a rats ass about the warfighter anymore , instead your exactly right it's all about buying influence. I am going to put a video here for everyone to watch. It sort of makes the point.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmGEn99TXLs&feature=related]YouTube - Lawmakers Grill Air Force on Tanker Deal[/ame]

 

[Navy1960]

[youtube]g6ApyQPy678&NR=1[/youtube]

Here is the comanche they cancelled in favor of spending more money on a less capable helicopter. That makes a lot of sense doesn't it?

 

[DiveCon]

[youtube]g6ApyQPy678&NR=1[/youtube]

Here is the comanche they cancelled in favor of spending more money on a less capable helicopter. That makes a lot of sense doesn't it?

yeah, amazing, isnt it
canceling the challenger cannon made sense since it was way too heavy for most of our transports to carry, but this move made no sense to me

 

[Navy1960]

yeah, amazing, isnt it
canceling the challenger cannon made sense since it was way too heavy for most of our transports to carry, but this move made no sense to me

You do realize the new program that the Army has stated over and over again it still needs is going to cost 120 billion more than the Comanche and is riddled with problems and overruns.

 

[DiveCon]

You do realize the new program that the Army has stated over and over again it still needs is going to cost 120 billion more than the Comanche and is riddled with problems and overruns.

costs NEVER go down

 

[Mauser]

Any reason why they couldn't have used a CH-53?

 

[DiveCon]

Any reason why they couldn't have used a CH-53?

or the V-22

 

[editec]

So you still think congress has our best interests at heart?

No. Nor have I had that impression for the last twenty years or so.

Now...answer me this Navy...

Do you think that international corporations that were formerly producing in America, but have offshored their production, but who still import their foreign made goods have American's best interests at heart?

 

[Navy1960]

Any reason why they couldn't have used a CH-53?

CH-53 is already being used as the presidential helicopter Mauser and Sikorsky the maker did propose a replacement for it, but was turned down in favor of the European one. The original proposal was sold on the fact that most of the helicopter would be built here in this country, but after the contract was signed, guess what? It seems the Europeans don't think we have the right skill sets for the job and have decided to make most of the airframe in Europe.

This is the American made helicopter they turned down.

 

[Epsilon Delta]

Maybe the European-made helicopter is better quality?