Berlin After years of delay, the Bundeswehr is to receive new transport helicopters. The buyers at the Ministry of Defense are currently examining the offers from the US manufacturers Boeing and Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, which they sent to the Germans a few days ago via the US government. A preliminary decision is said to be made in May.
According to information from “Bild am Sonntag”, Boeing should be awarded the contract. However, the Ministry of Defense said there was no decision yet.
The federal government is under pressure to act because the current fleet is getting on in years. The Sikorsky CH-53G used by the Bundeswehr have been introduced to the troops since 1972 and have clearly exceeded the planned life cycle. The procurement of spare parts for the approximately 60 machines that are still in use at Helicopter Squadron 64 in Holzdorf/Schoenewalde, not far from Leipzig in Brandenburg, is difficult and the costs for operation and maintenance are unreasonably high.
In September 2020, the federal government stopped an award procedure for new helicopters that had been going on for years. The main reason was the costs that got out of hand, as one participant reported. Defense Department officials had requested a variety of specifications for the aircraft, which had pushed up the price.
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In the new attempt, the ministry is now relying on tried-and-tested models that are already in use and, according to the draft budget, is making a total of almost 5.2 billion euros available for this up to the year 2030. Boeing’s model, the CH-47 Chinook, has been used by the US Army for decades. It is considered a proven technology that has been kept up to date over the years. Lockheed Martin enters the CH-53K King Stallion, a newly developed transport helicopter.
Read more about the Bundeswehr equipment initiative:
With the now planned purchase, the Bundeswehr largely dispenses with special requests. The material should be able to be procured quickly via the process – and be ready for use as quickly as possible. The CH-53K could be available as early as 2025, as the manufacturer recently announced to the trade press. A company representative said Boeing could also add a German order to the existing production chain. The prerequisite, however, is that the US Army or other customers let the Germans go first.
According to the FDP defense politician Marcus Faber, the Ministry of Defense wants to inform MPs about the current status in the coming week. It wants to know what the costs for the respective models look like over the term, said Faber.
The ministry wants to award the contract quickly: The US government has sent the information about the nature of the helicopter models in question to the federal government. It was more of a formality, as one participant reports. In the last tender, both manufacturers had already delivered tens of thousands of pages to the federal government. Printed out, a space could be filled with the paper.
Powerful, but also more expensive than the competitor model.
(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
Although Boeing and Lockheed Martin helicopters are designed to transport people and material, they cannot really be compared. Boeing’s twin-engine Chinook is the US Army’s standard, a robust and inexpensive machine. The King Stallion is a new development that has so far only been used by the US Marines and the Israeli Army.
Helicopter can be refueled in the air
In terms of unit price, the Lockheed Martin helicopter is significantly more expensive. The model is technically up-to-date and can also be refueled in the air. With the Chinook, this has only been tested in one variant. This capability is one of the specifics required by the Department of Defense. Boeing asserts that its model can meet this requirement.
A surcharge for Lockheed Martin is favored within the Bundeswehr, as a military said. “The helicopter is the new gold standard, especially since it can transport significantly more loads than the Chinook.”
The fact that they are said to be in favor of awarding the contract to Boeing is primarily due to the price. The promised money would be enough for 60 Chinook helicopters, but it would only be 44 of the King Stallion. Lockheed Martin wants to compensate for this disadvantage with higher availability and higher transport capacity.
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Another reason sounds a bit bold: Politicians fear alienating Boeing. Because with the decision to purchase the F-35 fighter jet, an order worth billions goes to Lockheed Martin and not to the Boeing group, which had offered the F-18. With an order for the production of the transport helicopter, Boeing could be appeased a bit, it was said in Berlin.
However, there are also tangible industrial and location-political interests associated with the order. Lockheed Martin had already entered the CH-53K in the tender that was stopped in September 2020 – and referred to close industrial cooperation with German companies such as Rheinmetall, Hensoldt and MTU.
In addition, Rheinmetall and Sikorsky wanted to set up a logistics center and fleet management center for the heavy transport helicopters at Leipzig/Halle Airport and create jobs there.
The most recent report by the Ministry of Defense on armaments matters states that efforts are being made to “design a substantial contribution to the preservation of national armaments economic capacities by involving domestic industry through the future contractor”.
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