The new Marine One

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

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.

Should probably be done in time for Hillary's 2nd term.

http://www.livescience.com/technology/060507_marine_one.html

Nathans_Dad · Nathans_Dad's Garage

That's an awfully nice looking helicopter, but don't they just use Marine One to hop over to Andrews to board Air Force 1? Do they REALLY need all that space for the 15 minute chopper flight?

Maybe we could take that money and buy a few more bricks for the wall on the Mexican border...

steve911 · steve911's Garage

I believe Marine One does much more than just ferry POTUS to/from Andrews. Its used to ferry the President from wherever Air Force One lands and the eventual destination, which can sometimes be 1-2 hours away. Hard to land a tricked out 747 in the middle of nowhere, though I suppose the pilots train to do just that.

A few summers ago, Bush was doing a speech and fundraiser in Central Oregon. AF1 landed at Redmond/Bend and Marine One ferried him to Sunriver. Pretty cool sight to see 3 helicopters in close formation coming in with several F14s providing air cover. Same drill in reverse the next morning when he left.

kach22i · kach22i's Garage

[QUOTE]Originally posted by widebody911
Should probably be done in time for Hillary's 2nd term.
Funny.

Shuie · 05-09-2006, 11:28 AM

The Sunday after Katrina hit, Marine One and the two clones were using the Baton Rouge airport as a staging area to check out storm damage on the LA-MS coast.

Don't they load these things up into C17 cargo planes for long flights? There three empty C17s that stayed lined up next to each of the helo's when they were at BTR, so I assumed they were used for the transport. What kind of plane will they need to move the new ones if they are 2x as big?

cashflyer · 05-09-2006, 01:04 PM

There ya go... that one should have plenty of room inside.

KNS · 05-09-2006, 01:16 PM

It is actually a British design that will be assembled by Lockheed. There was a heated bid for the contract between Sikorsky and the British compnay (Westland I believe) and the contract went to the British. Many people (Sikorsky included) claim that the Brits got the contract because of Blair's help in Iraq. Nice helicopter but it is a shame that it didn't go to Sikorsky. The Pres. has flown on Sikorskys since 1958 I think.

oldE · 05-09-2006, 02:54 PM

That is a big unit, but should fit in a C5A. Around here, we call those birds "Cormorants". The military picked up a dozen or so for SAR work. (Though I suspect Marine 1 will be outfitted without the lift winch). From time to time, I get to watch the SAR techs practice drops and recoveries from my front deck.
Les

teenerted1 · 05-09-2006, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by widebody911
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.

why does he need a fleet of 23?

fastpat · 05-09-2006, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by teenerted1
why does he need a fleet of 23?

They're stationed around the country, and are sent to whereever the Prez flys to, and probably have a few in europe and the far east someplace as well.

Frankly, the prez needs none of these perks, and no AF-One either.

Anything to lessen the imperial perks.

VINMAN · 05-09-2006, 05:15 PM

They will need the 200 sq ft of cabin space for Hillarys "cankles"
if she gets in!

fastpat · 05-09-2006, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by VINMAN
They will need the 200 sq ft of cabin space for Hillarys "cankles"
if she gets in!

Widebody helicopter for a widebody prez; yes I can see that.

campbellcj · 05-09-2006, 09:59 PM

This is the web site for the joint venture contracted to build these things.

http://www.teamus101.com/

Seems like an awful lot of questionable spending to me, but I'm trying to get a slice by selling 'em some software anyway

FOG · 05-10-2006, 07:15 AM

The –46 line was closed down long ago and all the airframes have battle damage.
Talking to the rotor heads who know helos it is a difference of design philosophy, the European stuff is smoother but not nearly as robust or damage resistant. The consensus among the aviators is the Sikorsky for the mission assigned but –71 for say civilian business types, etc. that don’t have the mission requirements.
23 acft take into account training, other missions, maintenance in various categories, and pre-positioning.
Fastpat I’m sure those involved in such things appreciate your help in the dis-information campaign.

S/F, FOG

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by oldE
Though I suspect Marine 1 will be outfitted without the lift winch.

Remember, this is for POTUS Hillary; the wench winch will be standard equipment. (Had to say it before Mul did)

Jim Richards · 05-10-2006, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad
That's an awfully nice looking helicopter, but don't they just use Marine One to hop over to Andrews to board Air Force 1? Do they REALLY need all that space for the 15 minute chopper flight?

Maybe we could take that money and buy a few more bricks for the wall on the Mexican border...

I'm with you on that!

tcar · 05-10-2006, 12:25 PM

Westland also builds the Sea King, I think. Under license?

...and the Coast Guard uses Dauphin helicopters - French... don't they?

FOG · 05-11-2006, 06:26 AM

Talk to the Brits about how well they like their “plastic” Westlands helo or ask the Coasties about the reliability and durability of their helos. Then ask them what they’d prefer for their missions.

campbellcj · 05-11-2006, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tcar
...and the Coast Guard uses Dauphin helicopters - French... don't they?

Yep; one of my customers (a US defense contractor) commented about this just last week as many folks seem to find this a bit embarrasing.

fastpat · 05-12-2006, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by campbellcj
Yep; one of my customers (a US defense contractor) commented about this just last week as many folks seem to find this a bit embarrasing.

I remember the argueing over the purchase of these French machines, the Coast Guard essentially insisted on them. I think the buried tail rotor, the Fenestron, was one of the reasons.