Posted on 01/29/2005 2:21:55 PM PST by Pikamax
British firm wins Marine One contract (Filed: 29/01/2005)
A firm which makes helicopters designed in Britain has won a multi-billion dollar contract to build a new Marine One fleet for the United States president.
AugustaWestland beat stiff competition from US rival Sikorsky to secure the lucrative six-billion dollar deal to build 23 helicopters.
The blades of the new helicopters will be built at the Westland factory in Yeovil, Somerset, which employs 4,000 workers.
Work on the contract will start immediately and will run up to 2009.
The US Navy made the announcement about replacing its ageing fleet of helicopters which are famous for taking US presidents to and from the White House lawn in Washington.
Around two thirds of the new models will be built in the United States with the rest split between the UK and Italy. AugustaWestland is a UK/Italian company.
The companies submitted bids last February, and waged a massive public relations campaign, complete with advertising hoardings, demonstration flights, adverts and radio commercials.
Maryland-based Lockheed and its European partners campaign had the help of Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry said: "We are delighted that the US authorities have selected the US-101 as the best helicopter to meet this important requirement.
"Although this will be a US-produced helicopter - Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor - it is based on a proven European, AgustaWestland design bringing benefits to the US and the UK."
For the winner, the contract means millions of dollars in federal research funds, and a potential edge when the Pentagon looks to replace hundreds of search and rescue helicopters in coming years.
The decision was a blow to Sikorsky Aircraft, which has built the presidential fleet since 1957, and saw the contract as a point of pride.
"Although this will be a US-produced helicopter - Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor - it is based on a proven European, AgustaWestland design bringing benefits to the US and the UK."
Ego issues? Looks to me that Lockheed Martin won the contract and the rest are simply subcontractors supplying various components.
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So9
I don't want my president's helicopters built in Europe.
Was this a "thank you" to the UK for their support?
They aren't. Lockheed-Martin is building them here. The basic design is British. We've done that before: the Brits also designed the AV-8 Harrier VTOL jet still in service with the US Marine Corps. . . .
> Was this a "thank you" to the UK for their support?
That's my snap read of it. If the Secret Service
signed off on this, I'm not sure I have a problem with it.
Plus, Sikorsky's offer may not have been competitive
because they assumed a UK machine would be politely
declined.
How do we know the Secret Service was consulted?
The Brits, Hawker Aircraft Ltd. to be exact, with the financial help of the American taxpayers designed the AV-8A Harrier & the TAV-8C Harrier, all of which the Marine Corps operated have been retired. The AV-8B Harrier II & TAV-8B, which was largely the work of McDonnell Douglas, is still in service with the Corps.
To be fair, the AV-8 was a complete redesign of of the Gr. Harrier the Brits used. Reworked in EVERY way.
The T-45 Goshawk naval aviation trainer is based on a British Aerospace design.
Some of our Light Armored Vehicles are Canadian.
The M249 squad machine gun is of European design, based on the FN Minimi.
Likewise the Beretta M9 sidearm, not that it's a slam-dunk endorsement for using foreign designs...
As well as the Canberra bomber that the USAF fly as the B-57.
This is confusing. The title says that a British company wins the contract, but they say in the document that Lockheed-Martin is making it.
LM is the leader of a consortium including Agusta Westland & other contractors.The basic chopper is a European design,but one of the preconditions for winning a high stakes order like this is to have American systems in majority.Hence when the EH-101 enters service for the US Pres,it will only be similar to it's British/Italian cousins in looks.
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