The European Defense Agency has begun the bid solicitation process for a helicopter capable of lifting heavy loads, with Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. reportedly proposing its CH-53K aircraft it is designing for the U.S. Marine Corps.
According to Aviation Week, Chicago-based Boeing Co. is preparing a joint bid for the program dubbed the Future Transport Helicopter, which would replace existing CH-53 helicopters in Germany and which would provide France its first such heavy-lift chopper.
Sikorsky is a subsidiary of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp. and is the largest employer in Fairfield County with more than 9,000 workers.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army awarded Sikorsky a $51 million contract to overhaul 500 rotor blades on Black Hawk helicopters, with the work to be performed at a Sikorsky facility in Bridgeport through the year 2020. The company was the lone bidder for the contract.
Sikorsky has asked a federal judge to absolve it of any liability to Cougar Helicopters and a leasing affiliate of Lloyd”™s, following the 2009 crash off Newfoundland of a Cougar helicopter built by Sikorsky that killed 17 people.
Sikorsky bases its case on technical terms of a 2004 contract that it says is binding on Lloyd”™s and Cougar. Sikorsky also interprets U.S. maritime law to bar any lawsuit from Cougar.
