WASHINGTON — The US Army intends to formally request industry proposals for major upgrades to its issue a request for proposal (RFP) for the major Block 2 upgrade on the CH-47 Chinook fleet within the first three months of 2016, with additional milestones expected a year later barring budgetary delay assuming the budget situation does not force a delay.
During a media briefing Monday at the Association of the United States Army conference here in Washington, Col. Rob Barrie, the Army's project manager for cargo helicopters, said told reporters that both the request for proposals (RFP) and milestone B decisions, which would coincide with a potential EMD contract, are "on schedule." Milestone B is expected to coincide with a engineering and manufacturing contract, he said during a media briefing at the annual Association of the United States Army conference here in DC.
If the Army's schedule holds, low-rate initial production would begin in fiscal year 2021, a phase that would last two or three years before reaching hitting full-rate production, Barrie noted. The CH-47's While stressing that the Block 2 upgrades are not yet a program of record, he stressed, though Barrie expressed optimism those dates would be hit.
The one wildcard, he said, is the Pentagon's ongoing budget uncertainty, However, he acknowledged that the budget situation throws potential uncertainty into the schedule. Congress recently approved a short-term continuing resolution (CR), which keeps money flowing at fiscal 2015 levels; President Obama has indicated he will not sign another CR, setting up major budget uncertainty come December.
"You can only plan for what you know, and our plan is towards a budget that we have today," Barrie said. "And it's always subject to a CR, sequestration, other things that may affect them.
"I'll say, specifically to the near term decision on the RFP release, we are proceeding towards that," he added. "It's in the very near future and there are no plans to change that now."
The Chinook's Block 2 upgrades will affect several for the Chinook is a collection of upgrades to systems, with an overall goal of increasing the the helicopter's performance on the CH-47. They are expected to upgrades will bring the CH-47 closer to the MH-47 design used by special forces.
A One area where a long-term continuing resolution could threatens the program? In the existing CH-47 multiyear contract, Barrie warned, in part because the contract calls for production to jump from 32 units in fiscal 2015 to 39 in fiscal 2016. Under a CR, that seven unit increase would not be funded.
"If we do have a full year CR, we would examine where we're at," Barrie said of the multiyear. "There would be an impact. We would determine what the impact is, if there is a full year CR."
Email: amehta@defensenews.com
Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.
