Safety upgrades could delay new presidential helicopter.

• Author: Colucci, Frank
• Position: NAVAL AVIATION

The helicopter chosen to carry the nation's chief executive meets civil aviation safety requirements, but it will require modifications to satisfy more stringent military specifications, asserted officials at the Navy program office managing the effort.

Competition for the presidential helicopter replacement was heated. The Lockheed Martin/Agusta Westland US101, now called VH-71A, beat out a version of the Sikorsky S-92. Lockheed Martin's team includes Agusta Westland (aircraft design), Bell Helicopter (aircraft assembly) and General Electric (engines).

The US101 had been certified to civil standards before the current requirements--including overall crashworthiness, resistance to bird strikes and turbine burst protection--were introduced.

According to the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), certification requirements for new Navy and Marine aircraft are generally tougher than even the most modern civil safety standards. NAVAIR is a self-certifying agency and officials say they are now formulating criteria that should test the US101 to the agency's current standards.

Even though the US101 was chosen to meet an accelerated delivery schedule, testing to these criteria can take months to years, mentioned helicopter industry sources.

Citing security concerns, NAVAIR has adopted a policy of not publicly discussing vulnerabilities of the aircraft. However, how much "beefing-up" the US101 structure needs will determine the ultimate cost and risk of a program on a tight schedule.

NAVAIR accelerated the expected delivery of the initial four presidential helicopters from fiscal year 2013 to 2009, and full operational capability with 23 helicopters is slated for 2014. To meet this rushed schedule, Lockheed Martin and the Navy expect that the first variant of the VH-71A largely will be an off-the-shelf EH101 with upgraded engines and protective equipment, such as missile warning detectors and infrared countermeasures.

Future improvements will include more efficient main rotor blades, a revised tail rotor, more powerful engines, an up-rated transmission and a second cabin display. NAVAIR also expects the upgraded airframe to achieve a 10,000-hour service life, matching today's VH-60N presidential helicopter.

Once in service with Marine Squadron HMX-1, the new helicopter must give the president safe and timely transportation with "office-in-the-sky" capability. "That's a flying communications center, not just a taxi cab," explained NAVAIR program manager...