Mary-Louise Hoffman
A fiscal 2017 defense funding bill introduced in the Senate would provide $576.1 million funds to a Sikorsky–Lockheed Martin team to continue work on the Combat Rescue Helicopter for the U.S. Air Force and the Marine One presidential helicopter replacement.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) has urged members of Congress to pass the Senate’s defense appropriations bill to help Lockheed and Sikorsky meet deadlines for the two programs, Schumer’s office said Tuesday.
The team would get an additional $273.3 million to build the Air Force’s next fleet of CHRs and another $302.8 million to replace the current Marine One fleet under the bill.
Congress provided $663 million for the two programs as part of an omnibus spending bill passed last year.
The Air Force selected the Sikorsky-Lockheed partnership in 2014 to manufacture as many as 112 CHRs based on Sikorsky’s Black Hawk platform and equipped with Lockheed-made mission systems for approximately $7.9 billion.
The team was also awarded a U.S. Navy contract with a $1.24 billion initial value in 2014 for the production of the presidential helicopter.
