Boeing to bid for presidential helicopter

Boeing Co. said it will get rights from Finmeccanica SpA unit AgustaWestland on its AW101 medium-lift helicopter to bid for the U.S. presidential fleet program.

The license from Finmeccanica will allow Boeing to get all intellectual property, data and production information for the helicopter, Boeing said in a statement on its website. Boeing plans to submit details of the helicopter to the U.S. Navy this month.

"Boeing has a long and extremely successful relationship with AgustaWestland, which has manufactured both the AH-64 Apache in the United Kingdom and the CH-47 in Italy under license from Boeing," Dave Palm, director of business development and strategy for Chicago-based Boeing's Rotorcraft Systems, said.

The U.S. Navy is beginning a new competition to replace the existing fleet of helicopters used by the president. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2009 canceled Lockheed Martin Corp.'s VH-71 presidential helicopter program because costs had increased to $13 billion. Lockheed's partner on that program was AgustaWestland.

Lockheed is now teamed up with United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky helicopter unit for the new competition.