It is a familiar sight in Washington. A green-and-white helicopter banks around the Washington monument and gently touches down behind the wrought iron fence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Minutes later, marine sentries snap to attention, salute, and the president of the United States emerges from the helicopter and walks to the oval office.
But the date is October 2009, and for the first time in forty-six years, the President doesn't emerge from a Sikorsky VH-3 Sea King helicopter. The gleaming helicopter now parked on the front lawn of the White House is a VH-71A, the new Marine One.
When all VIPs and passengers deplane, the onboard crew chief closes the door and the pilot and copilot take off for nearby MCB Quantico, Virginia, home base of Marine Helicopter Squadron 1 (HMX-1). Another Presidential support mission has been successfully completed.
The original schedule for the Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program, known as VXX, called for an initial operating capability in 2014. That schedule was accelerated by four years in the heightened security environment resulting from the terror attacks of 11 September 2001. This competition had some unique requirements, including the rotorwash and weight of the aircraft not being too hard on the White House landscaping, and two platforms were identified as viable candidates. The US101, a variant of a European-designed, three-engine, medium-lift helicopter, was chosen last January by Naval Air Systems Command, or NAVAIR, the Navy aviation acquisition agency. That helicopter is to be built in the United States by a team led by Lockheed Martin.
The new helicopter, expected to be in service for up to four decades, was officially designated VH-71A in July 2005. Greater than sixty-five percent of the VH-71 program content, which includes spares and support, will go to more than 200 US suppliers in forty-one states. The acquisition program, expected to be valued at approximately $7 billion, is for twenty-three aircraft. The operational aircraft will be built from nose to tail rotor in Amarillo, Texas.
Presidential Helicopter Team
The VH-71 (not yet nicknamed) is the fourteenth variant of the all-weather, combat-proven EH101 in service or in production for the United Kingdom (where it is nicknamed Merlin), Italy, Japan, Portugal, Canada, and Denmark. The more than 100 EH101s delivered since 1997 are used for combat search and rescue, antisubmarine warfare, or carrying up to thirty combat troops quickly over long distances. The fleet has accumulated close to 85,000 flight hours — a considerable amount in a relatively short period.
The EH101 started as a joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the United Kingdom and Agusta in Italy in 1987. Those two firms merged in 1999 to form AgustaWestland. The merged companies joined Bell Helicopter based in Fort Worth, Texas, to form a single company to be the principal subcontractor to Lockheed Martin for the VH-71. Both Agusta and Westland have produced license-built versions of Bell designs for more than fifty years.
What is now known as Lockheed Martin Systems Integration began as a division of IBM. In 1956, IBM bought 800 acres outside of Owego, New York, a small town near the Pennsylvania border. There it began producing bombing and navigation electronics for B-52 bombers, a line of business the company is still in. The company became Loral in 1994 and then part of Lockheed Martin in 1996.
"We decided to become a prime contractor in the late 1970s," says Steve Ramsey, vice president of helicopter systems at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration — Owego. "Our first major contract came a couple of years later with the SH-60B LAMPS [Light Airborne Multipurpose System] program for the US Navy. We put all the mission equipment on a platform built by another company. We have delivered nearly 200 helicopters since. We anticipate we'll install all the weapons and systems on nearly 500 MH-60R/S aircraft for the Navy in the future.
"The US Navy referred us to the Royal Navy on Merlin, and we won the competition in 1991," Ramsey continues. "It was a $4 billion contract to complete development of the EH101, and we have delivered all forty-four aircraft. That's what we do — systems integration at the top level and apply it to different platforms."
NAVAIR and HMX-1 form the government side of the Presidential helicopter team. The Secret Service also plays an advisory role. NAVAIR recently reestablished PMA-274, the Navy systems program office, to manage the acquisition and development of the VH-71. PMA-274 was disestablished in the early 1990s when the Presidential helicopter support functions were consolidated with the heavy-lift helicopter programs. HMX-1 is in the unique position of first being the tester and later the ultimate operator of the VH-71.
Two Configurations
The new Presidential helicopter will be delivered in two distinct configurations. "Performance and capability account for the differences between the two configurations," explains Pat Dewar, the Lockheed Martin VH-71 program manager. "The first is a rapidly developed version that is equal to or better than the Sea King used now. The second configuration will have a more sophisticated suite of communications gear and increased helicopter performance, truly an office in the sky."
The test fleet will consist of two existing aircraft and five new-build VH-71s. These aircraft, combined with a five-ship initial production run, are collectively known as Increment 1. These helicopters will have much of the same American-made equipment and systems — or the equivalent US systems — that are on the UK and Italian helicopters, such as mission avionics, weather radar, electrical, hydraulic, and fuel systems as well as the same main rotor head, transmission, and rotor blades.
The VH-71 will differ from the EH101 in several significant areas, most importantly with an improved survivability equipment suite optimized for use in Marine One. The VH-71 will also have a VIP cabin, which includes a lavatory, a small galley, and a rear door and stair combination known as an airstair instead of a cargo ramp. The airstair is for passengers who are not the President, First Lady, or their guests.
Like other EH101 variants, the VH-71 has an active control system that cancels out rotor and transmission vibration to create an airliner-like ride. Sound-absorbing material installed throughout the VH-71 provides a quiet work environment. The new Marine One will have a six-foot-tall main cabin airstair door instead of the shorter opening on the EH101. The taller door matches the height of the cabin and it makes for better TV — the President only has to tip his head to get into Marine One, instead of having to duck down.
The President and staff will never be out of touch, as the Increment 2 VH-71s will provide an elaborate, state-of-the-art communications suite. The communications system operator, the fourth onboard aircrew member, operates the equipment that provides secure access to the White House communications network.
The Increment 2 VH-71s will have head-up displays in the cockpit, a more robust tail rotor design, a higher power gearbox, slightly redesigned rotor blades for better flight characteristics, and increased performance engines.
Test Program
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The tips of the composite rotor blades on the VH-71, like those on its predecessors, are flared for aerodynamics and noise reduction. One unintended feature that will be useful on CSAR-X is the blade geometry raises a curtain, not the usual cloud of sand in low hover, eliminating brownout conditions and reducing sand ingestion by the engines and rotor wear.
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"The focus for Increment 1 is to deliver maximum capability within an aggressive schedule," notes Dewar. "While we test the aircraft and gear up for production, concurrent engineering will allow a seamless transition to Increment 2. We will deliver a mission-ready aircraft four years after contract award. The fully mission capable aircraft will be delivered two years after that."
An AgustaWestland-owned EH101, called Civil 01, is currently being flown in the high-altitude and high-temperature climate at Victorville, California, testing the General Electric CT7-8E engines that will power the Increment 1 aircraft. These 2,500-shp engines are an improvement over the 2,145-shp GE T700 or 2,270-shp Turbomeca RTM322 engines that power the EH101.
As the test program progresses, this aircraft will be used to test the even more powerful 3,000-shp GE CT7-8C-E1 engines that will power the Increment 2 aircraft. The CT7 engines eliminate takeoff maneuver constraints for the VH-71, allowing a smooth transition to forward flight under any conditions.
Test Vehicle 1, or TV-1, an Italian Navy EH101 flown to Owego this past June, is now being used for VH-71 initial pilot and maintainer training. It will also be used for transport-ability and deployability testing and will eventually be returned to combat service.
Next year, TV-1 will be used for communications system and antenna testing at both Owego and the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division test facility at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, where all the VH-71 military testing will take place. A new, secure 200,000-square-foot hangar now under construction at Pax River will house the Presidential helicopter program.
Next year, TV-1 will be used for communications system and antenna testing at both Owego and the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division test facility at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, where all the VH-71 military testing will take place. A new, secure 200,000-square-foot hangar now under construction at Pax River will house the Presidential helicopter program.
The other five test aircraft are purpose-built VH-71 aircraft. TV-2 will be used to test flight loads and avionics, but it will not have the VIP interior. TV-3, which will have VIP accommodations, will be the primary test asset for testing the automatic flight control system and weather and instrument flight rules certification. TV-4 will be the primary electromagnetic environmental effects test platform. TV-5 will be used for noise and vibration testing as well as mission equipment suite testing. TV-6 will be used for aircraft performance evaluations and as the Increment 2 test aircraft.
"Each test aircraft primarily supports specific parts of the test plan," says Dewar. "But we maximize test aircraft availability with an ability to perform any test card with any two of the test aircraft," says Dewar.
Yankee White
Assembly on TV-2 begins at the AgustaWestland plant in Yeovil, England, in February 2006. That helicopter will be delivered a year later. The remaining test aircraft will come off the line at a rate of one per month after that.
The first aircraft the forty-fourth President of the United States will fly on will be available nine months after taking office. The eighteen Increment 2 production aircraft will come off a second assembly line that will be established in a new dedicated facility that will soon be under construction at Bell's facility in Amarillo, Texas. Full Yankee White security protocols — the multi-level security program that allows access to all things Presidential — will be in force in this facility.
All aircraft will be flown to Owego for system and cabin installation, which will take about nine months per aircraft at a dedicated facility that will open in 2006. When complete, the test aircraft will be flown to Pax River. Beginning 2008, the production aircraft will be delivered to HMX-1 at Quantico. From there, the next stop is the lawn of the White House.
The current plan calls for the early production aircraft to be brought to Increment 2 standards in 2011. The VH-3D fleet will be retired in 2012; the VH-71 fleet will be fully operational in 2014.
"We negotiated with AgustaWestland to bring the 101 design to the US for a number of business opportunities," notes Ramsey. "We won VXX with this helicopter, and we feel we are in a good position for the next competition, CSAR-X."
New Rescue Helicopter
CSAR-X is the Air Force's fast-track program to replace the Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk combat search and rescue helicopter. "CSAR-X is not a new development effort," says Dan Spoor, the Lockheed Martin vice president for CSAR-X at Owego. "Twenty-four months after contract award, the first aircraft is delivered."
Many of the features of the in-service Merlin and EH101 helicopters have direct application to CSAR-X. "This is a military CSAR platform in use now with five nations for this mission. Every sensor on the 101 has been put on some other platform, and we've integrated it on several different aircraft," says Spoor.
What suited the US101 design for Presidential transport also works well for transporting pararescue jumpers and survivors. In fact, the cabin in the US101 is nearly 300 percent larger than that of the HH-60G, allowing two Stokes litters to be carried side by side with more than two feet of aisle space.
Many of the improvements coming for the VH-71 aircraft, such as an enhanced gearbox and rotor blades, will be reused on the later CSAR-X aircraft. The three engines of the US101 are also beneficial for the search and rescue mission. If a crew loses an engine in hover, there is no change in performance.
The CSAR-X program calls for 141 aircraft to replace the existing HH-60G fleet. The program is valued at approximately $25 billion including procurement and support. The Air Force issued the request for proposal for CSAR-X in early October, with contractor responses due in late November. Current plan calls for a down-select decision in the spring of 2006 with a planned IOC date in October 2012.
Jeff Rhodes is the associate editor of Code One.
