After passing the VH-92A Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program Critical Design Review in July, Sikorsky’s program has moved to assembly of the new presidential helicopter fleet at its Coatesville plant.

During the in-depth design review, the VH-92A program team successfully demonstrated that its design meets all the necessary system requirements.

“This is an important step forward in the replacement of our presidential fleet of helicopters,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. Robert Pridgen, program manager for the Naval Air System Command’s Presidential Helicopter’s Program Office.

Sikorsky won the U.S. Navy’s $1.24 billion fixed-price incentive Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract for 21 operational and two test aircraft in May two years ago. Sikorsky will use its S-92 aircraft as a template to which it will integrate government defined mission systems as well as an executive interior.

“This milestone is an important achievement for our program and demonstrates Sikorsky and NAVAIR are well aligned,” said Spencer Elani, Director of Sikorsky’s VH-92A helicopter program. “We got here by completing several milestones on or ahead of schedule. We are committed to staying on that track.”

Check out previous VISTA Today coverage of Sikorsky here.

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Top photo credit: J Sonder Marine One Arrival – 7/30/2013 via photopin (license)