Free Republic

After decades of upgrades to a fleet of notoriously cramped Sikorsky VH-3 Sea Kings, the White House has tasked Lockheed Martin with a dramatic, $6.1-billion makeover of Marine One, the presidential helicopter, starting this summer. The goal: to fit a mobile Oval Office into the tight quarters of a chopper. The new fleet will consist of 23 VH-71 aircraft, each of which will have 200 square feet of cabin space, nearly double the Sea King’s 116. Aside from the legroom, the copter will incorporate major upgrades to the old defense and communications systems. Equally important is that the aircraft is...

Was Bush or Cheney in Atlanta today? I could have sworn I just saw Marine One taking off across downtown.

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: After returning to the White House late yesterday, the President spent a quiet day at the White House. He and the First Lady will attend the annual Gridiron Dinner tonight in Washington. President Bush said he intended to nominate Michael Griffin of Johns Hopkins University to head the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Griffin currently heads the Space department at Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. THE WEEK AHEAD: Source -- White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, at yesterday's press gaggle. Monday: The President will participate in the presentation of the National Medals of Science and Technology...

The White House has asked Congress for $419.3 billion for the Defense Department in fiscal year 2006 -- 4.8 percent more than the Pentagon's current budget before including money for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (which will come in the form of an $80 billion supplemental). Although the total value of the Marine One presidential helicopter program -- $6.1 billion for 23 helicopters -- is the equivalent of just 1.5 percent of what the Pentagon has budgeted in 2006, the decision to award the contract to the Lockheed Martin team is more important than just dollars and cents. It...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- On Capitol Hill, reaction to the announcement that a Lockheed Martin-led international consortium had won the contract for the design and construction of the next generation of U.S. presidential helicopters was mixed. Some folks cared; others didn't. Welcome to life in 21st-century Washington, where diplomatic concerns, the demands of the global marketplace and plain, old-fashioned political pressure and pork barrel regularly collide. "The $6.1 billion contract -- $3.6 billion for the fleet of 23 helicopters and the rest for research and development -- is far from the Pentagon's largest," the New York Times reported Monday,...

It was announced today that Lockheed-Martin was awarded a 1.6 billion dollar contract to build a new fleet of Marine One presidential helicopters. While big military contracts are nothing new, this one has a twist. Lockheed was probably the underdog in this competition due to the fact that Sikorsky has had a lock on Marine One for the past five decades. What makes the Lockheed contract interesting is that the design for the new helicopters comes from Italy, who happens to be one of our biggest companions in the War on Terror. There is no question that both aircraft in...

Sunday, January 30, 2005 10:46 pm EST news.newstimes.comOutsourcing A presidential helicopter that isn't all-American?http://news.newstimes.com/editorial.php Connecticut was shocked Friday to hear the U.S. Navy has chosen a helicopter made by a European consortium to transport President Bush. >snip< Sikorsky Aircraft, based in Stratford, is the company that traditionally builds presidential helicopters. >snip< The Lockheed design is actually a British-Italian product. >snip< But key components will be built overseas, and this $6.1 billion contract for 23 helicopters will mean a net loss of American jobs. Is this a new avenue for outsourcing American jobs? Well, yes. It also outsources the development of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Friday gave a transatlantic team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT - News) a $1.7 billion contract to build a new fleet of 23 U.S. presidential helicopters, a deal valued at up to $6.1 billion. The decision was a stunning setback for Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp.'s (NYSE:UTX - News) Sikorsky Aircraft unit -- which for nearly 50 years has built and maintained the green and white "Marine One" helicopters that fly the president. Sikorsky had wrapped itself in the American flag to pitch its twin-engined VH-92, based on the Black Hawk helicopter. But...

British firm wins Marine One contract (Filed: 29/01/2005) A firm which makes helicopters designed in Britain has won a multi-billion dollar contract to build a new Marine One fleet for the United States president. AugustaWestland beat stiff competition from US rival Sikorsky to secure the lucrative six-billion dollar deal to build 23 helicopters. The blades of the new helicopters will be built at the Westland factory in Yeovil, Somerset, which employs 4,000 workers. Work on the contract will start immediately and will run up to 2009. The US Navy made the announcement about replacing its ageing fleet of helicopters which...

AgustaWestland, the Anglo-Italian helicopter maker, last night won a contract to build the new US presidential helicopter fleet, dealing a blow to American rival Sikorsky, which has flown the president since 1957. AgustaWestland, owned by Finmeccanica of Italy, and Lockheed Martin, its US partner, received a $1.7bn (£901m) contract to build more than 20 helicopters, in a competition that was seen as a litmus test for whether European companies could increase their defence business in the US. AgustaWestland's British operations are based in Yeovil in Somerset where it employs 4,000 people. Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at the Teal group, said:...

The Department of Defense announced today that the team led by Lockheed Martin Systems Integration, Owego, N.Y., has been selected to build the new presidential helicopter (VXX) based on its U.S. 101 medium lift helicopter. This $1.7 billion, cost plus award fee contract will launch the VXX program’s system development and demonstration phase during which the program will integrate a “system of systems” with a modern, in-production aircraft to provide the president with safe and reliable helicopter transportation. “Today’s announcement is a significant milestone that caps an exhaustive and deliberative source selection process that carefully followed the Federal Acquisition Regulations,”...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a surprise move, the U.S. Navy (news - web sites) has chosen a transatlantic team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. to build a new U.S. presidential helicopter fleet in a deal valued at well over $1 billion, several congressional sources said on Friday. The decision was a stunning setback for Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky Aircraft unit -- which for nearly 50 years has built and maintained the green and white "Marine One" helicopters that fly the president. Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), a New York Democrat, announced the decision in a press release,...

The first family attended church this morning. Afterwards, the President headed to Camp David where he was to meet with his advisors to work on his State of the Union Address. QUOTE OF THE DAY: At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire. Some, I know,...

Leading Congressional Defense Appropriator Tours US101 'Marine One' Demonstrator Thursday September 16, 1:00 pm ET OWEGO, N.Y., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Team US101's Presidential Helicopter Replacement (VXX) program concept demonstrator was toured today by U.S. Rep. Jack Murtha (PA-12) -- the ranking minority member of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee -- during a visit to Lockheed Martin's facility in Owego, NY. Murtha was invited to Owego and accompanied by fellow appropriator U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (NY-22), whose district encompasses the facility. Team US101 is competing to provide the president of the United States with a state-of-the-art fleet of next-generation...

Copter battle descends on Texas BOB COX, Star-Telegram Staff Writer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), August 10, 2004 Section: Business, Edition: FINAL, Page: 1C The hottest political contest in Texas at the moment is not the race between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry. It's over who will build the next presidential helicopter. Neither Bush nor Kerry is spending a lot of time and money wooing Texas hearts and minds, but the same can't be said for the companies competing for the prestigious helicopter contract. About the only thing they haven't promised is that the Lone Star flag will adorn the...

President Bush is squeezing in some campaigning before the political spotlight turns to next week's Democratic National Convention in Boston. Bush's twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, were to accompany him Tuesday. It's the first time they have made joint appearances with their dad on the campaign trail, although they each have traveled separately with him on other outings. The twins also will take part in an online chat Friday on Bush's re-election Web site. Bush flies to re-election rallies in Iowa and Missouri, toss-up states that he and Democratic rival John Kerry are fighting hard to win this year. Bush...

No helicopter symbolizes executive power more than Marine One as it lifts off the White House lawn. Now, the competition to build the next fleet of presidential helicopters has become a bare-knuckles brawl that pits a flag-waving domestic maker against an international team hoping to be rewarded for supporting the United States in Iraq. One bidding team is led by the Lockheed Martin Corporation, the nation's largest military contractor, which has lined up European partners and a lobbying juggernaut that includes Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi — two of Washington's staunchest allies...

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - A former Marine One helicopter that ferried three presidents during their White House years is now a Ronald Reagan Presidential Library museum piece. The Sikorsky VH-3A that was used for Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford floated to a landing Friday on the South Lawn replica at the library, which houses presidential memorabilia. The helicopter was being moved to the nearby Air Force One Pavilion construction site to roost next to the retired Boeing 707 that served as Air Force One for 28 years. The airplane was used for Nixon, Ford,...

CHANTILLY, Va. — Competition for the right to build the presidential helicopter soared Wednesday as the two companies vying for the contract showed off their product and their patriotism. Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft is spending the week offering rides in its VH-92 Super Hawk, while Maryland-based Lockheed Martin ramped up its list of U.S subcontractors to quell concerns that its US101 aircraft is partly foreign made. Out on the runway at Dulles Airport, just west of Washington, D.C., the deep green Super Hawk lifted off Wednesday into the snowy sky for a brief jaunt. Inside the aircraft, passengers settled into the...

LOS ANGELES -- In a bid to keep a European-designed helicopter from becoming the next Marine One transport for the president, United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX - News)'s Sikorsky Aircraft Co. said it will rely on U.S. companies to build its latest version of the chopper, pulling work from several international suppliers. Sikorsky, whose helicopters have carried all U.S. presidents since Dwight Eisenhower, will replace partners in China, Taiwan, Spain, Japan and Brazil on this particular version of its new S-92 helicopter. The international partners will continue to build large portions of the civilian version of the helicopter, Sikorsky said. Since...