Head to head with Sikorsky in the competition to sell 23 helicopters to the United States for presidential transport, Lockheed Martin (LM) was uncharacteristically scathing of the competition and its alleged double standards in a statement at the show. Teamed with the Anglo-Italian AgustaWestland International in promoting the US101 version of the EH101, LM has been irked by the competition's description of its S-92 rival as "all American" and, ergo, the patriotic and only possible choice.
As pointed out by LM svp of business development, Robert H. Trice, the S-92 is a truly international aircraft with a minimal U.S. content, as once boasted by Sikorsky until the present competition was announced. The S-92 even has components made in Communist China; to claim that Italy and the UK somehow can't be trusted with the life of the U.S. president is "the ultimate hypocrisy," asserted Trice yesterday. The contenders should be evaluated on their merits, "not on a jingoistic slogan. Competition is the American way."
