Testing of new presidential helicopters questioned

By: JOHN J. LUMPKIN - Associated Press | Friday, January 21, 2005 9:22 PM PST ∞

WASHINGTON -- The Navy's plans for a new presidential helicopter do not provide for sufficiently rigorous testing of early production models, the Pentagon's chief of testing says.

The early models of the Marine One helicopter would even lack some of the capabilities of the president's current version, the testing chief's report says. The first new Marine Ones are expected to begin operating in October 2009.

Next Friday, the Navy is expected to announce who will get the $1.6 billion contract to produce 23 of the aircraft. Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. and Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. are competing for the job. The full fleet is supposed to be in operation by 2014.

However, Thomas P. Christie, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation, says in his report that the Navy's schedule will mean the new helicopters will be tested even as they are being built -- meaning that lessons learned in the testing process cannot be incorporated into the early production models.

This "violates the fly-before-buy concept," Christie says.

A Navy spokesman declined to address the concerns raised in the 380-page report, released by the Pentagon this week. The White House has pressed for an expedited bidding and development process because of safety concerns with the current helicopter, based on the SH-3 Sea King, in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Navy officials have sought more time.

In the fiercely competitive bidding process, Sikorsky Aircraft has argued that its VH-92 Super Hawk is 100 percent American-made. Lockheed Martin has said its US101, which is based on AgustaWestland's British-Italian-made EH101 Merlin, will be as much as 80 percent American-made.

Christie's report, a summary of his office's activities last year, offers criticism of several other high-profile military acquisition programs:

  • The Air Force's C-130J cargo aircraft, already operating in Iraq, was neither "operationally effective nor operationally suitable" during initial testing. The plane, built by Lockheed Martin, has a host of deficiencies, including some in manufacturing quality and defensive systems, the report says.

    In July, the Pentagon's inspector general issued a report voicing similar complaints. Air Force and Lockheed officials rejected many of them, insisting the aircraft was safe and that many issues were being addressed.

    Two propeller-driven C-130Js were sent to Iraq in December, one from the Rhode Island Air National Guard and the other from an Air Force reserve unit based in Mississippi. A spokesman for the Air Mobility Command said they have flown 400 hours and moved 625 tons of cargo, and have been available to fly 96.7 percent of the time.

  • A few variants of the Army's Stryker armored vehicle are not suited for combat operations, the report says. The main model, an infantry carrier, is fine, but the report finds problems with the capabilities of three variants: a mortar carrier, a mobile gun system and a nuclear, biological and chemical reconnaissance vehicle.

    The report also notes the Army's efforts to better armor the Stryker against rocket-propelled grenades.

    The Stryker, an eight-wheeled armored vehicle, is supposed to provide the Army with a lightweight but well-protected vehicle that can operate in small-scale conflicts. A Stryker brigade is in northern Iraq.

  • The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a replacement for the F-16, may be too heavy for the Marine Corps' short take-off and landing requirements. The plane is under development for the Air Force, Navy, Marines and eight foreign countries.

    Associated Press reporter Lolita Baldor contributed to this report.

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