Lockheed over budget on $6.1B presidential chopper

Gravity · Jan 29, 2009

Lockheed over budget on $6.1B presidential chopper

January 29, 2009 - 1:26pm

By DONNA BORAK
AP Business Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Lockheed Martin Corp.'s $6.1 billion next-generation presidential helicopter program is at least 50 percent over budget and will need to be re-certified as a national security requirement by the Pentagon's leadership.

The Pentagon in March reported that the program's price tag had reached $11.2 billion, and the Navy and Lockheed have been trying unsuccessfully to bring costs down.

The Navy waited to report Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed's "critical" cost breach until it explored numerous alternatives and considered making requirement trade-offs to keep the program within the original budget, Navy spokesman Lt. Clayton Doss said Thursday. But the service decided that was not possible.

Such overruns trigger a Nunn-McCurdy violation, which requires the Pentagon to notify Congress about significant cost growth on major acquisition programs. Doss said the service took the first step in notifying Congress about the presidential helicopter program's cost breach on Wednesday.

A Lockheed Martin spokesman deferred comment to the Navy.

The program will now have to be re-certified by the defense secretary after it is determined that the Navy's helicopters are required for national security reasons.

Doss said past cost-cutting efforts on the presidential helicopter program included adopting 200 recommendations and Lockheed participating in a Navy acquisition review.

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers the Pentagon will be forced to make tough choices on acquisitions in the upcoming fiscal 2010 budget as the department faces the pressure of paying for two wars during a recession.

Shares of Lockheed, the nation's largest defense contractor, fell 30 cents to $82.27 in afternoon trading.

(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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What the fuck are they trying to build?

hippiehillbilly · Jan 29, 2009

The VH-71 Kestrel,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VH-71

MrFrosty · Jan 29, 2009

so 50 mil for a plane for citi is too much cause they got a bailout but 11.2 billion is ok for the pres?

hippiehillbilly · Jan 29, 2009

not just any president. this is god we are talking about..

White_Horse_Mescalito · Jan 29, 2009

god went back to texas

Dave_techie · Jan 29, 2009

they need to give it to the skunk works.

silly general lockheed engineers.

dixie_pixy · Jan 29, 2009

Well, I don't know about going over budget with the chopper but I can tell you that Lockheed has sufficiently gone broke. Recently, we laid off a few thousand people and more are still in the process of leaving as well. From what I know, Lockheed is having a real issue with settling debt with contracted companies. I'm sure one had nothing to do with the other but they are definitely both issues that the company needs to settle once and for all. I'm sick of all the layoffs around here and they just keep getting closer to home.

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Lockheed over budget on $6.1B presidential chopper

Gravity #winning

hippiehillbilly the old asshole

MrFrosty Banned

hippiehillbilly the old asshole

White_Horse_Mescalito ""

Dave_techie I call Sheniangans

dixie_pixy HighMandi

Log in or Sign up

Lockheed over budget on $6.1B presidential chopper

Gravity #winning

hippiehillbilly the old asshole

MrFrosty Banned

hippiehillbilly the old asshole

White_Horse_Mescalito ""

Dave_techie I call Sheniangans

dixie_pixy HighMandi

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