What Sikorsky losing Black Hawk helicopter contract means for Connecticut, business
As Sikorsky absorbs the U.S. Army’s pivot to Bell as its utility aircraft of choice for missions performed by today’s Black Hawk, Gov. Ned Lamont shared elements of a phone conversation Monday night with the Lockheed Martin subsidiary’s chief executive in Stratford — a talk that offered little immediate hope for Sikorsky getting a second chance at replacing the Black Hawk in the Army fleet.
The Army is opting for tilt-rotor technology embodied in the Bell V-280 Valor, over the Defiant-X offered by Sikorsky and Boeing which itself is a radical improvement over the Black Hawk, in maneuverability and speed.
Lamont confirmed that the manufacturer will shed jobs over the long haul as Black Hawk production winds down in the coming decades, though Sikorsky hopes to beat out Bell for a scout helicopter contract with the Army. Connecticut has offered $50 million in incentives to support that work if Sikorsky gets the contract, with an accompanying commitment by Lockheed Martin to keep Sikorsky’s headquarters in Stratford.
“There won’t be any sudden changes in terms of employment, but we worked like this with Sikorsky doing everything we can to win this bid,” Lamont told CTInsider
on Tuesday. “That was going to be a real anchor tenant for the central part of our state.”
Sikorsky did not make an executive available this week to share any insights on next steps by the manufacturer.
Sikorsky has roughly 8,500 employees currently in Stratford, Bridgeport, Shelton and Trumbull, putting it in the second tier of major Connecticut employers after Yale-New Haven Health, General Dynamics Electric Boat and Raytheon Technologies. Thousands more work at roughly 250 suppliers supply Black Hawk components to Sikorsky, or otherwise provide support services. And any number of more businesses in Stratford and surrounding communities depend on spending by Sikorsky and its employees for sales.
U.S. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., stated he is “severely disappointed” and said he is seeking a justification for the award to Bell, to include “price or technical issues” in his words. Blumenthal has a seat on the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services.
“I am eager to hear the Army’s reasons for not selecting Sikorsky and I will ask the Army to show that Sikorsky had a full, fair, and open opportunity to win this work,” Blumenthal said in a statement forwarded by a spokesperson.
The Army eyes a fleet of about 2,000 Black Hawks today, according to Ray Jaworowski, senior aerospace analyst for Forecast International, a market research firm based in Newtown. In an email, Jaworowski indicated there are many details the U.S. Department of Defense has yet to share about the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft that will displace the Black Hawk, but last year a Sikorsky executive cited the potential total revenue at $80 billion.
“So far, the Pentagon has not announced a total program buy for the FLRAA,” Jaworowski stated. “They are unlikely to be replaced on a strict one-for-one basis.”
Sikorsky did not furnish a breakdown of how many of its employees work exclusively on Black Hawk production and support, and the number for whom Black Hawk business occupies a percentage of their working week.
In its main assembly bay in Stratford, Sikorsky has two full production lines devoted to the Black Hawk and another for the new CH-53K King Stallion, “heavy-lift” helicopter Sikorsky is building for the U.S. Marine Corps. In a smaller bay, Sikorsky makes Seahawk helicopters for the U.S. Navy and the new HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter for the U.S. Air Force. A separate building houses the production line for the VH-92 helicopter that will serve the Marine One mission for the White House.
“We really thought that we had this thing,” Lamont said Tuesday in sharing elements of his Monday evening conversation with Paul Lemmo, president of Sikorsky. “We thought we had the best solution, the most maneuverable nextgeneration for choppers. Bell had a very different strategy out there — obviously it’s a strategy that the Army went with. Now Sikorsky’s going to take a look at the award and see what they do next.”
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, whose 3rd District includes Sikorsky’s headquarters plant in Stratford, said in a statement she was “disappointed” the local company was not selected.
“Sikorsky makes the best helicopters in the world,” she said. “Sikorsky and their employees are the lifeblood of our community. Their defense manufacturing plays a critical role in helping the men and women of our armed services carry out their duties safely. I intend to receive briefings from the Army to better understand how and why the decision was made. I will continue to fight like hell to ensure Sikorsky, and other organizations and companies in Connecticut, receive funding opportunities that support our workers and our economy — and that ultimately preserve jobs.”
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes also weighed in, with his district including Sikorsky’s Bridgeport factory where assembly begins for Black Hawks and other models before fuselages are forwarded to Stratford for final assembly. Himes holds a seat on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and subcommittees that review strategic technologies and support for warfighters.
“I was disappointed to learn that their model was not selected as the successor to the military’s Black Hawk helicopter,” Himes said in a statement forwarded by a spokesperson. “I look forward to learning more about the Army’s decision in this matter.”
The companies have yet to state definitively if they will mount a formal bid protest, with Sikorsky having done so successfully 15 years ago to wrest the Air Force helicopter program away from Boeing. If the companies stand pat or are not successful in any bid protest, Sikorsky would be left with one major active bid with the U.S. military: an armed scout helicopter the Army wants for missions once performed by the Bell OH-58 Kiowa light helicopter, and more recently the Boeing AH-64 Apache which was built as a combat attack helicopter before the Army expanded its role to fill in for mothballed Kiowas.
The Army fielded roughly 2,200 Kiowas through 1989 and about 2,400 Apaches which are still in production today, about equal to the number of Black Hawks that Sikorsky has produced since the 1970s. But the rapid progress and capabilities of drone technology could usurp some of the missions envisioned today for any new scout helicopter.
Sikorsky has made its own stunning progress with autonomous flight systems on the Black Hawk, but Sikorsky has yet to announce any major foray into drones. In Bloomfield, Kaman this year won a contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to create a prototype for a helicopter drone for the Marines that can carry payloads of up to 800 pounds. In time, Kaman hopes to interest commercial companies in the prototype.
If potentially devastating for Connecticut’s aviation workforce, the Black Hawk replacement loss represents a hit for Lockheed Martin as well, which spent $9 billion in 2015 to acquire Sikorsky from United Technologies in part on the promise of Defiant-X. UTC subsequently merged with Raytheon, which owns East Hartford-based Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace with a large workforce in the Hartford area.
In October, Arizona’s Congressional delegation asked President Biden to ensure that his administration give all proposals “full and fair consideration” in their words, without mentioning Boeing by name which has its main Apache helicopter plant in Mesa, Ariz.
“It’s critical the the platform selected maximize operational capabilities for the Army’s air assault mission,” the Arizona delegation wrote. “The helicopter the Army selects must be affordable, producible, and sustainable, as it meets the operational needs of ground force commanders, and most importantly, our nation’s warfighters. In a resource-constrained environment, we ask that lessons learned from prior acquisition programs be applied and the total program cost examined.”
One member of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation sits on the Armed Forces Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd, who has proven an influential voice in promoting Electric Boat for submarine construction. On Tuesday, Courtney termed the Army decision as “perplexing” and vowed to support DeLauro and Connecticut’s congressional delegation in getting more details on the Bell award.
Armed Forces Committee members include Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, whose district includes Amarillo where Bell manufactures the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft for the Marines. Last month in Amarillo, Bell workers completed the final H-1 helicopter that dates back to the UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” helicopters synonymous with Vietnam.
Two Democrats from Washington state sit on the Armed Services Committee as well who have Boeing facilities in their districts, including Rep. Adam Smith who is about to cede the chairman role on the Armed Services Committee to Rep. Mike Rogers, RAla., the ranking Republican on the committee. Sikorsky has two facilities in Alabama.
Jaworowski noted that Europe represents a possible opportunity for Sikorsky and Boeing with Defiant-X, given the Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability initiative by France, the United Kingdom and Italy, all of which have major helicopter factories within their borders operated by Airbus or Leonardo.
“Sikorsky and Boeing can be expected to migrate Defiant X technology to future rotorcraft designs as well as to upgrade and modernization efforts,” Jaworowski said. “While a European solution from Airbus and/or Leonardo may be favored here, there may well be potential for some type of teaming arrangement with Sikorsky and Boeing for some use of Defiant-X technology in the eventual design.”