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US101 Waits for the Rest of the U.S. to Make Up its Mind
With its eyes on the prize of the United States' VXX presidential helicopter requirement, it has been a difficult few months for Team US101. Having fought off most of the accusations from certain sections of U.S. industry and political life that their aircraft is some kind of "durned untrustworthy foreign heelocopter," the US101 team has watched in dismay as the VXX program schedule shifted to the right and then had its budget filleted.
Under the VXX initiative the U.S. Marine Corps is looking for 23 new aircraft to replace the VH-3Ds, and possibly the VH-60Ns, of Presidential squadron HMX-1. The new helicopters are planned to enter service in 2008. Team US101 is hoping that a VXX victory would give a big boost to its chances of winning the U.S. Air Force's forthcoming PRV (Personnel Recovery Vehicle) competition for a new combat search-and-rescue helicopter. In both the VXX and PRV face-offs the US101 is in a straight race with the Sikorsky S-92.
Right now Congressional appropriators are reviewing an appeal from the Pentagon to restore the €178 million ($220) million cut by the House and Senate from the €629.7 million ($777.4 million) originally requested for the VXX in the FY05 defense spending bill. The appeal states plainly enough that the funding cut will not allow the U.S. Marines to buy enough aircraft in the time required. However, in May this year previous efforts to accelerate the VXX source selection decision were stymied when the U.S. Navy decided it would delay any contract announcement—and one is not now expected until after the November elections. Many observers took this hasty postponement as a sign that the US101 was most favored, but that the issue had become too much of a political hot potato in the run up to an election.
The US101 variant of the AgustaWestland EH101 is being developed specially for the U.S. market by the AgustaWestlandBell group partnered with Lockheed Martin as Team US101. In March 2004 the original European parent of the EH101 (EH Industries) was renamed AgustaWestland International. Then in May it was announced that the Westland half of AgustaWestland was being acquired from British owners GKN by Agusta's Italian parent, Finmeccanica, for €858.6 million (£1.06 billion). On paper this makes the EH101 look like an Italian aircraft and that may undercut the British card that has been played so effectively in support of the helicopter across the Atlantic.
The US101 effort is of extreme importance to AgustaWestland because elsewhere the cupboard is starting to look a bit bare. The EH101 has 146 orders with about 100 delivered. Back in December 2003 the first aircraft for Denmark and Portugal made their first test flights and deliveries will begin soon. The EH101 has been cited as one possible option for a prospective New Zealand air force transport requirement (having lost out in Australia's bad-tempered AIR 9000 competition last year) and is a candidate for a new minesweeping helicopter for Korea (having already won a similar order from Japan). There is also the likelihood of additional orders stemming from the UK's SABR (Support Amphibious Battlefield Rotorcraft) requirement, but that program remains frustratingly uncertain. For the time being, all the big money for the EH101 is still in the United States. AgustaWestland is at Outside Exhibit 1.
—Robert Hewson
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