By Graham Warwick in Washington DC
First upgraded helicopters to be delivered this year as manufacturer works to overcome six-month delay
Bell Helicopter has completed the first production AH-1Z and UH-1Y as it works to meet a recovery plan for the US Marine H-1 upgrade programme, which fell six months behind schedule because of manufacturing problems. The first aircraft is scheduled to be delivered in October, when the programme's progress will again be reviewed by the US Department of Defense.
"A DAB [Defence Acquisition Board] in October will review whether the programme is delivering to the recovery schedule," says programme manager Col Keith Birkholz, adding: "Bell is executing to the plan, and is on schedule to deliver the first Y at the end of October, and the Z right behind."
The DAB will also review for approval a restructured programme that gives priority to the manufacture of Huey utility helicopters because of heavy usage of the USMC's ageing UH-1Ns.
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| The first AH-1Z will be delivered in October. IOC is planned for 2011 |
A contract for the first seven new-build UH-1Ys has just been awarded, and initial operational capability (IOC)) is planned for September 2008. IOC for the remanufactured AH-1Z has been pushed back to fiscal year 2011.
The original plan was to remanufacture USMC AH-1Ws to Zs and UH-1Ns to Ys, but to avoid taking each Huey out of service for two years all but the first few Ys will have new-build airframes.
Other programme changes include putting new UH-1Y nose sections into production earlier to overcome problems with variability encountered during remanufacturing. In addition, a rotatable pool of government-furnished equipment has been established so that a UH-1N does not have to be taken out of service until a Y is delivered.
After suffering cost and schedule overruns, Bell in January committed to a price curve, according to Birkholz, and the company's latest production contract includes fixed-priced options for the next four lots.
"We have Bell's proposal and it meets the price committment curve," he says.
Source: Flight International