Race is on to replace Air Force search and rescue helicopter.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: Search And Rescue

Manuevering already has begun in a competition for a lucrative contract for new Air Force personnel recovery vehicle," built to rescue downed aircrews and others who find themselves isolated on the battlefield.

As it prepares to seleCt a company to produce the aircraft, the Air Force will be watching closely the heated contest to build the next-generation VXX presidential helicopter. The winner of that race is likely to have a sizeable advantage in the competition for the PRV, said Joe Haddock, Sikorskys vice president for government relations.

"The Air Force doesn't want spend a lot of money for the PRV," he told National Defense during a demonstration flight for the H-92 at Virginia's Manassas Regional Airport. "It is perfectly willing to let the Navy pay the research and development costs while replacing the presidential helicopter and adapting that helicopter to the PRV role."

The Navy--which is managing the program to replace the current presidential helicopter, known as Marine One--expects to award a $1.6 billion contract for 23 choppers in December. Competing for the job are teams led by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, of Stratford, Conn., and Lockheed Martin Systems Integration, based in Owego, N.Y.

Sikorsky--which has built every presidential helicopter since President Eisenhower began using them in 1957--is offering its H-92 Superhawk, a descendant of its H-60 Black Hawk and Sea Hawk.

Lockheed is promoting the US101, an American variant of AgustaWestland's EH101, which already is operating in military and civilian roles, including search and rescue, in the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy and Japan.

The Air Force contract will be bigger and more lucrative. The service wants to buy 132 PRVs to replace 104 aging HH-60G Pave Hawks, also built by Sikorksky. The contract could be worth as much as $9 billion, according to one industry source.

First deployed in 1982, the Pave Hawk--a version of the Army's Black Hawk--is a twin-engine, medium-lift helicopter flown by the Air Force Special Operations, Air Education and Training and Air Reserve Commands, as well as the Air National Guard and Pacific Air Forces.

The Pave Hawk's primary mission is to conduct day or night operations into hostile environments to recover downed aircrew or other isolated U.S. or allied personnel. Pave Hawks have performed such assignments in every U.S. conflict since the first Persian Gulf War. As recently as December 2003, a Pave Hawk braved surface-to-air missiles...