DoD Buzz: US Helo Industry Crashing; ATL Wants Industry Consortium

[unhappycamper]

US Helo Industry Crashing; ATL Wants Industry Consortium
By Greg Grant Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 2:43 pm
Posted in Air, Land, Policy

DoD is so worried about the long term health of the helicopter industry that acquisition chief Ashton Carter wants to corral the different services’ research and development money (altogether about $110 million) and funnel it to where it can have the most impact.

Now, research and development money from the services, NASA, DARPA and the Coast Guard, is scattered across so many different efforts that none are making real progress toward developing innovative rotary-wing technologies. Carter’s new initiative would include a partnership between government and an industry consortium.

The folks over at the Second Line of Defense (SLD) site posted a copy of Carter’s memo giving the go ahead for the new effort, along with slides presented at an October 27 “Vertical Lift Aviation Industry Day.” The slides include a briefing by Mike Walsh from OSD’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics office that is full of interesting information on the military’s helicopter fleet and future plans, or the lack thereof.

The big problem going forward for industry is that there is little money for rotary wing future plans. As one slide points out, there are no active research and development efforts after Apache Block III and CH-53K. Program cancellations, including the Army’s armed reconnaissance helicopter and the Air Force’s Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR-X), have taken a toll. Future DoD budget constraints will only worsen matters.

Currently, DoD’s rotary wing “portfolio” is focused on maintaining a “stable inventory” with upgrades to existing aircraft. On the “demand” side there are no new starts in the Future Year Defense Program (FYDP) and no clear signals on the way ahead, the briefing says. The absence of any future roadmap is playing havoc on the helicopter industry.


Rest of article at: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/11/17/carter-wants-helo-industry-consortium/?wh=wh

[Turbineguy]

1. Quick!

The President needs a hundred helicopters for vacation trips!

Oh wait, that guy left.