Rotorcraft
Heli-Expo 2005 Report
The award of the U.S.

The award of the U.S. Presidential VXX contract a few days before Heli-Expo was a hot topic in the Anaheim Convention Center last month. The decision went to the Lockheed Martin US-101, a helicopter with British and Italian roots, and came as a surprise to the many observers who assumed that Connecticut-based Sikorsky had the inside track with its newer S-92.

The level of direct domestic involvement in building the US-101, the focus of much debate during the year-long competition, turned out to matter less to the U.S. government than expertise in integrating airframe and mission systems into a coherent package. Lockheed Martin has recent experience with such integration on this particular airframe (on the British Royal Navy Merlin variant).

Loading…