Lockheed over budget on presidential chopper

Lockheed over budget on presidential chopper
By Donna Borak - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jan 29, 2009 16:57:15 EST

WASHINGTON — 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 for a fleet of 28 new helicopters 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 spokesman referred requests for comment to the Navy.


Rest of article at: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_lockheed_presidential_helicopter_012909w/%2e