Capping one of the most contentious and hardest fought competitions for government aircraft ever, Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin secured a $1.24 billion contract to begin building a new presidential helicopter based on Sikorsky’s S-92.
The winning team was the only bidder in the latest phase of a decade-long effort to start replacing Marine One, the 1960s-era Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King, with a fleet of modern helicopters. The contract was originally awarded to AgustaWestland of Italy in 2009, but that bid collapsed amid technical difficulties and billions of dollars in cost overruns.
