CH-53K is seen to COST MORE and take LONGER!

via Bloomberg

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s new King Stallion helicopter for the U.S. Marine Corps is likely to cost $144 million each, 4 percent more than projected by the service, and be ready to deploy a year later than planned, according to the Pentagon’s cost assessment office.

The estimate by the independent cost office is an increase from the Navy program office’s most recent projected “program acquisition unit cost” of $138.5 million per copter in a $31 billion program. It’s also a 25 percent increase from the initial goal of about $115 million established in late 2005 for the aircraft designed to haul heavy cargo.

The Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office also estimates a delay of about a year to May 2020 in the start of rigorous combat testing that must be completed before the aircraft can be approved for full-rate production -- the most profitable phase for Lockheed in what’s planned as a 200-aircraft program. The updated estimate was provided in a new report to Congress that was obtained by Bloomberg News.

The cost office also estimates that the helicopter won’t achieve its initial combat capability until December 2020, or a year later than the program’s estimate.

Story here.

Anthony is at it again.  That guy is a great defense reporter and is at the top of his game.

Enough of the hero worship.  Onto the real show.

This is pure supposition, speculation and a whole bunch of conspiracy theory, but this seems off and smells wrong.

Why would the CH-53K suffer such cost inflation?  It makes no sense!  That price is obscene.  Either they're using the CH-53K to "stealth fund" the F-35 or we need to take a serious look at this helicopter and determine whether its worth it or not.

140 million dollars per?

I don't see how Neller could swallow that without screaming at the top of his lungs...Mattis either...which is why I'm guessing some type of stealth funding.  If not then we need a serious audit of this program.

No matter how you slice it, something is seriously wrong here.