Lockheed Team Wins Presidential Chopper
Friday January 28, 6:13 pm ET
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy has chosen a trans-Atlantic team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. to build a new U.S. presidential helicopter fleet in a deal valued at $1.7 billion.
The surprise decision was a stunning setback for United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky Aircraft unit, which for nearly 50 years has built and maintained the green and white "Marine One" helicopters that fly the president.
Assistant Navy Secretary John Young said the decision came after an "exhaustive and deliberative" search and would ensure a high level of quality and safety for future presidents.
"This decision truly reflects the best value and capability for the American taxpayer who is funding it, the Marines who will operate it and future presidents who will fly in it," Young said in a statement.
Lockheed, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, will build a spin-off of a three-engine EH101 helicopter made by AgustaWestland Inc., an Anglo-Italian unit of Italy's Finmeccanica SpA . Textron Inc.'s Bell Helicopter is the other big partner.
The contract could also give Lockheed a boost when the Air Force orders 194 search and rescue helicopters next year that could be worth more than $6 billion.
In addition, it could help Lockheed, based in Bethesda, Maryland, and its partners sell another 200 helicopters to the U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security in future competitions.
The presidential helicopter is due to go into use in 2009.
Young said each helicopter would cost about $110 million with about two thirds of the work done in the United States and one third in Britain and Italy.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, praised the decision in a written statement, saying Lockheed's victory would bring hundreds of new jobs to its Owego, New York plant.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, said the determination was "outrageously wrong," and he would raise questions about the fairness of the decision-making process.
"I am committed to do everything in my power to right this wrong," Lieberman said in a statement.
Another Connecticut lawmaker, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, vowed to introduce legislation requiring the new helicopters be made entirely in the United States.
"We're sending our jobs overseas. We're sending dollars overseas, and we are sending our research and our technology overseas," DeLauro, a Democrat, said of the decision. (Additional reporting by Tim Dobbyn in Washington)
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