KarlMarx
04-20-2010, 04:52 AM
After cancelling the Presidential Helicopter last June, the DoD is now requesting bids for, drum roll please, a new Presidential helicopter!
The government is still paying termination costs for the old program and spent over $3 billion on the old one.
One of the reasons that the old contract was terminated was that it was 6 years behind schedule despite the fact that it was awarded in February of 2005. For the math challenged, that's 5 years ago. (You can't make this stuff up, only the government can subtract 2005 from 2009 and get 6).
The new helicopter, according to news sources, is supposed to be ready to fly by the year 2017. The contract award is at least a year away. Frankly, that is quite an aggressive schedule.
What will the DoD do when *that* program runs into trouble? Cancel it and start all over, yet again?
My hunch is that the reason why not much was done to save the program is that our plant is non-union. My hunch is that the winner will be Sikorsky, a union shop (ironically, we've teamed up with them on the new bid as a subcontractor).
Do I think that union jobs at Sikorsky will be a factor in deciding the winner? Absolutely. Why? Because the Administration back tracked on a decision to cancel the Orion program (the program to send a man back to the Moon) when it was found that 4,000 Colorado State position were at risk. That means union jobs.
Meanwhile, over 200 people at the Lockheed plant in Owego, New York, the plant that was building the helicopter, will be given their 2 weeks' notice today.
This moment of stupidity is brought to you by the Obama Administration, whose motto is... we pay for your health care by gutting defense.
The government is still paying termination costs for the old program and spent over $3 billion on the old one.
One of the reasons that the old contract was terminated was that it was 6 years behind schedule despite the fact that it was awarded in February of 2005. For the math challenged, that's 5 years ago. (You can't make this stuff up, only the government can subtract 2005 from 2009 and get 6).
The new helicopter, according to news sources, is supposed to be ready to fly by the year 2017. The contract award is at least a year away. Frankly, that is quite an aggressive schedule.
What will the DoD do when *that* program runs into trouble? Cancel it and start all over, yet again?
My hunch is that the reason why not much was done to save the program is that our plant is non-union. My hunch is that the winner will be Sikorsky, a union shop (ironically, we've teamed up with them on the new bid as a subcontractor).
Do I think that union jobs at Sikorsky will be a factor in deciding the winner? Absolutely. Why? Because the Administration back tracked on a decision to cancel the Orion program (the program to send a man back to the Moon) when it was found that 4,000 Colorado State position were at risk. That means union jobs.
Meanwhile, over 200 people at the Lockheed plant in Owego, New York, the plant that was building the helicopter, will be given their 2 weeks' notice today.
This moment of stupidity is brought to you by the Obama Administration, whose motto is... we pay for your health care by gutting defense.