6. Kestrel VH-71
Joined the Service in 2007
Producer: Lockheed Martin
Price: *$241 million
Lockheed Martin, AgustaWestland, and Bell Helicopter worked together to produce the VH-71 Kestrel. The project was abandoned in 2009 due to the excessive cost ($13 billion for 28 Kestrels), even though it had made its first flight in 2007. The Marine One Presidential Transport Fleet was originally intended to be replaced by the Lockheed Martin aircraft.
VH-71 Kestrel on Twitter.com/@FASTmuseum
Prior to Lockheed Martin’s acquisition, the USMC Martin One was marketed as the US101. After cancellation, Lockheed later claimed that the government’s repeated demands for unforeseen and exorbitant modifications—none of which were included in the original RFP—were the reason the price was so high.
There are now two USAF contracts up for grabs that could go to the US101/Martin One. One is the 141-plane CSAR-X (combat search and rescue) project, which Boeing first prevailed in with its HH-47 but lost long after for inexplicable reasons. Seventy aircraft are needed for the second competition, which is called the Common Vertical Life Support Program (CVLSP).
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