Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's demands to kill off a super-expensive, ultramodern fighter and the way-over-budget, behind-schedule presidential helicopter drew a sympathetic hearing from a Senate panel Wednesday. The F-22 is a next-generation fighter aimed at maintaining U.S. dominance in air combat, but is poorly suited for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The VH-71 is the high-security replacement for the aging fleet of presidential helicopters.

Fresh off its victory removing F-22 fighter jets from a Senate defense bill, the White House is girding for another legislative battle over funding for new presidential helicopters to replace its existing, decades-old fleet. Neither President Barack Obama nor Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to buy the VH-71 presidential chopper, which has more than doubled in cost from $6 billion to an estimated $13 billion for a contingent of 23. “If the final bill were to include funds that continue the existing VH-71 program or would prejudge the plan to re-compete the presidential helicopter program, the president’s senior advisers would...

OWEGO, N.Y. -- The latest incarnation of the presidential helicopter touched down here Friday. And though it may not resemble the Marine One we know so well, it just needs a little time. "We're going to integrate a series of mission equipment, communications equipment, paint it, put in the interior and begin the flight test afterwards at our facility in Maryland," said Kevin Westfall, the VH-71's business operations director. Meet the VH-71, part of a new fleet of nearly 30 presidential helicopters that will be added to the Marine One Squadron over the next decade. Lockheed-Martin won the systems integration...