Originally posted by Harlequin
www.defense-aerospace.com...
knew this would happen - after once again lockheed totally fecked it up - westland delivered the aircraft ontime within budget - lockheed then trippled the price!
It had nothing to do with Lockheed, the customer changed the requirements and abilities drastically after the contract was issued - thats why the costs ballooned.
The aircraft was marketed as a relatively simple adaptation of the successful EH101 helicopter. However, new requirements imposed on the programme after contract award forced the USN to launch a major re-design.
www.flightglobal.com...
For once, this doesn't look like a contractor screwup, but the ultimate customer wanting more capability and not wanting to pay for it. Happens all the time in my industry - feature creep.
