Lockheed Helicopter Funding Shift Reduced by Skeptical Lawmaker
- House panel approves half of $158 million sought by Navy
- Representative Smith demands proof engine exhaust flaw solved
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The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee turned down a Navy request for $158 million to correct flaws with Lockheed Martin Corp.’s new King Stallion helicopter, agreeing to shift only half that amount from other programs.
Representative Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington state, wrote the Defense Department that he’d approve the remaining $79 million only after the Marines and the Pentagon’s test office provide a report about what progress is being made to solve the heavy lift helicopter’s most serious technical problem -- the ingestion of exhaust gas back into one of the helicopter’s three engines.