Too Heavy?

The wrong airframe? Or both? Lockheed screws the pooch. Army Times (09.15.05):

"The Army asked Lockheed Martin to stop work on the $879 million Aerial Common Sensor program contract for a new spy plane after a review found that continuing the current effort would delay the program by two years and lead to additional costs. In a Sept. 14 statement, the Army’s Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), Fort Monmouth, N.J., said Lockheed had 60 days to resolve problems that company officials found in June." Army to Lockheed: Stop work on spy plane

"The Army’s review found 'has determined the weight of the ACS payload and required airframe modifications exceed the structural limits of Lockheed Martin's selected aircraft,' [the Army’s program executive officer for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors at CECOM Edward] Bair said." Lockheed was awarded the contract in August, 2004. They teamed up with Brazilian airplane manufacturer Embraer, "a key member of a consortium led by Lockheed Martin Corp. that won an $879 million contract to develop new spy planes for the Army." Before the final contract was awarded, the Army ponied up some dough for the competitors to "develop elements of the electronic systems that are the heart of the ACS spy-plane program. The focus was on developing those components and not on how to fit them on the aircraft, which would come later." "(D)uring an October 2003 industry day meeting", the Army told Lockheed and Embraer what it wanted. "The aircraft selected on that basis was the RJ 145." Believe it or not, in April 2004, "the Army issued a clarification that it wanted the aircraft to have six workstations for operators, and expected the plane to carry more load and fly longer." Lockheed and Embraer went back to the drawing board, and figured that by "extending the wings and extracting 10% more power from the engines [they could] meet the weight and endurance requirements the Army wanted. That's what the company proposed in its final bid in June 2004." Turns out that even with the modifications, the stuff ended up weighing too much. "The Army’s review and its decision to stop work follows Lockheed’s discovery — one year after it won the contract — that it had underestimated the weight of wires and equipment used to install electronics on board the airplane." Smaller plane, lower cost. Lowball the equipment weight, it fits on the smaller plane, your costs come out lower and you win the contract. Get it? Hey, on paper it looked perfect. Actually building it? Ahhh, worry about that later!! Did Embraer give Lockheed the business about what it could build? Lockheed is now being coy. Wall Street Journal (09.12.05):

"Now the U.S. defense giant has backed away from Embraer in the face of Army skepticism, the paper said citing executives involved in the discussions. The larger Embraer model is untested for military use. In recent days, Lockheed has intensified its search for alternative aircraft models as it hustles to salvage the contract, the Journal reported. It said company officials no longer speak of Embraer as their preference, and people close to the program have concluded that the Embraer option is not viable." Lockheed looking to dump Embraer for Spy Plane:

Sooooooooo, how much is this costing us? Hard to tell at this point, but the contract as initially awarded to Lockheed was somewhere in the neighborhood of $870 million. Pretty funny, huh. Arf, arf.