{"id":189104,"date":"2010-05-22T05:27:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-22T10:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2010\/05\/22\/yet-another-service-sabotaging-itself\/"},"modified":"2010-05-22T05:27:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-22T10:27:00","slug":"yet-another-service-sabotaging-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2010\/05\/22\/yet-another-service-sabotaging-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Yet Another Service Sabotaging Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this case, it’s the Marine Corps, which is slipping the date of the 1st<\/sup> flight of its CH-53K heavy lift helo by 2 years for no apparent reason<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The first flight of the U.S. Marine Corps\u2019 heavy lifter CH-53K helicopter has slipped two years to 2013, while its initial operational capability (IOC) has slid three years to 2018, officials have confirmed to AVIATION WEEK.<\/span><\/p>\n

The date slips come as no surprise to the Marines and the CH-53K program office at Naval Air Systems Command (Navair). In January 2009, program manager Capt. Rick Muldoon submitted a Program Deviation Report for the aircraft\u2019s critical design review (CDR) to the Pentagon acquisition headquarters. The CDR is now slated for September, representing a year\u2019s delay<\/span>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is no indication of technical problems or of development issues that would justify this.<\/p>\n

So, why is this happening?<\/p>\n

It appears that it is happening because the helo largely meets or exceeds the payload and range capabilities, though not the speed, of the V-22 Osprey and as such, it is a threat to Marine Corps procurement plans for the tilt rotor and foreign sales<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Why slow the program? When delivered, the new fly-by-wire CH-53K will, in theory, transport 27,000 pounds of external cargo out to a range of 110 nautical miles, nearly tripling the thirty-year old CH-53E\u2019s lift capability under similar environmental conditions\u2013all while fitting under the same shipboard footprint.<\/p>\n

The CH-53K will also provide unparalleled lift under high and hot conditions while maintainability and reliability enhancements to the CH-53K will decrease recurring operating costs over the current CH-53E (the CH-53K aims at a more reasonable $10,000 dollars per flight hour while the CH-53E costs twice that). Survivability and force protection enhancements will also increase protection dramatically, for both aircrew and passengers. What\u2019s not to like?<\/p>\n

The CH-53K was an unsung showpiece for those preaching the virtues of incremental development, and, as a result, appetite for the platform has grown by about 30 percent, with the program of record expected to increase from156 aircraft to 200.<\/p>\n

But, in the process, the CH-53K has become something of a MV-22-killer<\/span>. Is this the problem?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ummm \u2026\u2026\u2026 Yes?<\/p>\n

The CH-53K is steadily eating away at the V-22 Osprey market. In late 2009, the Marine Corps decided to go with the CH-53Ks to replace their 40-year old CH-53D fleet (MV-22 Ospreys were originally slated to replace the CH-53D). At about the same time, Israel decided to forego the Osprey for the CH-53K, killing the Osprey\u2019s best hope of snaring an international buyer<\/span>. And with the Osprey 65% availability and the MV-22s high operating costs of about $11,000 dollars an hour, the CH-53K posed a serious threat to the MV-22 program.<\/p>\n

Even worse, studies from the Pentagon demonstrated that a CH-53K-equipped big-deck amphib provided a lot more logistical support for embarked Marines than the MV-22, suggesting the mix of embarked MV-22s and CH-53Ks needed tweaking (and possibly fewer MV-22s).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(emphasis mine<\/span>)<\/p>\n

Much in the same way that the USAF is scrambling to retire legacy F-16s and F-15s so as to make the F-35 JSF a dire need, the Marine Corps is slow walking the CH-53K in an attempt to protect their orders, and possibly encourage foreign orders, for the ruinously expensive Osprey.<\/p>\n

The program is being delayed because it is too successful.<\/p>\n

This is what is wrong with defense procurement in the US Military in a nutshell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this case, it’s the Marine Corps, which is slipping the date of the 1st flight of its CH-53K heavy lift helo by 2 years for no apparent reason: The first flight of the U.S. Marine Corps\u2019 heavy lifter CH-53K helicopter has slipped two years to 2013, while its initial operational capability (IOC) has slid …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1008,1226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defense-procurement","category-helicopters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}