April 27, 2007 – 8:56 p.m.
On April 24, McCain’s aides on the Senate Armed Services Committee met with a senior Air Force acquisitions official for the first time to discuss the award, but the officials failed to satisfy McCain’s concerns, said a congressional aide familiar with the discussions.
McCain’s office is now combing thousands of related documents that the Air Force provided April 20. Nearly all of the documents deal with how the Air Force determined the requirements that led to the Boeing award.
Last November, the Air Force chose Boeing’s HH-47 design, a variant of the twin-rotor Chinook helicopter, to replace its fleet of Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters. Boeing beat Sikorsky and the team of Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland for the program.
McCain’s probe into the helicopter contract evokes the Boeing tanker scandal that rocked the Air Force in 2001 and 2002. His investigation into Boeing’s award on that program led to revelations of corruption, the resignation of senior Air Force officials and the jailing of acquisitions official Darleen Druyun.
Aides said McCain, R-Ariz., has not yet determined whether similar malfeasance was involved in awarding Boeing the helicopter contract. “They’re doing their due diligence,” an aide said of McCain’s investigators, adding they were examining whether Boeing’s HH-47 helicopter actually meets the needs of soldiers who must be located and rescued on the battlefield.
But Nick Schwellenbach, defense investigator for the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog organization, said McCain’s involvement signals suspicion of improprieties in the Air Force’s selection of Boeing for the helicopter contract. “They’re not getting involved without good reason,” he said.
He also said he saw “definite parallels between elements of the tanker lease scandal and what we know so far” about the helicopter contract award. “Needless to say, Boeing’s track record renders it susceptible to suspicion.”
Boeing declined to comment.
Don Manuszewski, an Air Force spokesman, said the Air Force is fully cooperating with McCain’s inquiry. “We’ve given him all the documents that are available and under our control,” he said.
Some defense experts point to changes in Air Force procurement documents that allowed Boeing to enter the helicopter competition. For example, a 2005 internal needs analysis reversed a previous rejection of the Chinook as a combat search-and-rescue helicopter, according to the congressional aide. It is unclear who made the change.
According to an Air Force lobbyist, the service’s acquisitions staff took over the procurement after Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley submitted the initial requirements for the new helicopter. When the HH-47 was selected last November, the rest of the Air Force was surprised, said the lobbyist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“It was probably not the one that many of us would have selected,” the lobbyist said, comparing the Chinook’s maneuverability to “landing a school bus in your back yard.”
In Feb. 28testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Moseley said the HH-47 would not have been his first choice. And during a March 20 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne admitted that “mistakes were made” in the solicitation process.
Defense experts say several characteristics of the Chinook make it unsuitable for combat search-and-rescue missions. They say its large size limits maneuverability, making it vulnerable to attack from the ground.
Raymond Jaworoski, an aerospace expert with Forecast International, a company that analyzes the defense industry, said the Chinook is also loud and slow, allowing the enemy to hear it coming. Defense experts said its strong rotorwash could cause problems by knocking over soldiers and kicking up sand in a desert environment. Jaworoski also noted the Air Force originally requested a “medium lift” helicopter, whereas the Chinook is classified as a “heavy lift” chopper.
In an April 4 letter to Wynne, McCain centered on this point: “It is unclear to me what supporting analysis determined the need for a heavy-lift combat search-and-rescue helicopter.”
Sue C. Payton, Air Force assistant secretary for acquisitions, responded a week later, saying the HH-47 was in fact a medium-lift helicopter. Dissatisfied with that answer, McCain demanded the Air Force provide the documents related to its helicopter award decision.
McCain’s probe into the contract follows a February report by the Government Accountability Office that supported protests by competitors Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky, who complained the Air Force incorrectly evaluated the life-cycle costs in the bids.
GAO said the Air Force didn’t follow the requirements when conducting its evaluation.
GAO is also conducting another study into flaws with the procurement. That report is due in June, according to Wynne.
McCain is likely to receive support for his investigation from