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Air Force Times article

November 25, 2006 on 12:41 pm | In Articles |

 Sikorsky files protest of Air Force CSAR choice

By Vago Muradian
Staff writerSikorsky Aircraft on Nov. 17 protested the Air Force’s decision to award Boeing a $15 billion contract to supply the service’s future combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) helicopters.

Sikorsky filed the protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which adjudicates government contracting decisions. Once a protest is lodged, all work on a program is halted until the GAO issues a final ruling.

Company spokesman Ed Steadham confirmed the protest.

“Sikorsky seeks to ensure the selection process accurately evaluated the characteristics and performance of its HH-92 helicopter,” he said.

Sikorsky’s HH-92 competed against Boeing’s HH-47 and the US101 by Lockheed Martin, AgustaWestland and Bell Helicopter Textron for the contract to build 141 helicopters to replace the Air Force’s Sikorsky HH-60G helicopters starting in 2012.

Lockheed also is expected to protest Boeing’s Nov. 9 win by the close of business Nov. 20. Lockheed spokesman Greg Caires declined to comment on a protest, saying the company had been debriefed by the Air Force and was “assessing the data provided.”

The Air Force pick is even coming under fire from some search-and-rescue airmen, who are baffled that their 22,000-pound HH-60Gs are going to be replaced not by another medium-lift helicopter, but by a massive heavy-lift aircraft. The Chinook tips the scales at 54,000 pounds.

Search-and-rescue crew members have long complained that their HH-60s are too small, but they also like the helicopter’s agility, which they call key to survival.

They wanted a helicopter that was larger than the HH-60, but say that while the HH-47 is a fine aircraft, it is simply too large, lumbering and loud for the mission.

The decision even caught Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and service chief Gen. Michael “Buzz” Moseley off guard. When briefed Nov. 7, both questioned why a heavy-lift helicopter had been picked to replace a medium-lift aircraft, sources said.

The answer, sources said, was that the evaluators made a straight choice on quantifiable capabilities without valuing categories that could be viewed as subjective.

Supporters of the US101 and the HH-92 argue that their aircraft are quieter, more agile and have lower operating cost than the larger HH-47. The HH-47 won because it can carry 27,000 pounds of fuel and cargo — has longer unrefueled range and a higher operating altitude than the other aircraft. That extra payload also would prove handy in noncombat missions such as disaster relief.

Air Force officials also have said that the HH-47, which has been in service some four decades, would arrive sooner and is a less risky choice than the US101 and HH-92.

Wynne and Moseley decided to stand by the choice to avoid giving the impression of undue command influence on the acquisition decision, sources said. Both men have stressed that the helicopter decision would be made fairly and unimpeachably to help rebuild confidence in the Air Force acquisition system, which was tarnished by the Darleen Druyun affair.