It seems that since President Obama has taken office there’s a lot more “open” coverage of the presidential methods of transportation. As long as I can remember, the Air Force and Marines — as well as the Pentagon — have kept the details of the presidential aircraft closely guarded. Until now.

Over the weekend, much was made of Obama’s first ride aboard Air Force One. His maiden flight on Marine One last Thursday also made headlines. And a few weeks ago, the National Geographic Channel aired specials titled “On Board Air Force One” followed by “On Board Marine One” which offered exclusive information and insight into the aircraft. Here’s a short preview of “On Board Air Force One” from NatGeo:

A squadron in the Marines called HMX-1 operate and maintain thirty five special helicopters to ferry the president. The Air Force has the Presidential Airlift Group at Andrews Air Force Base and manages two identical (and highly specialized) Boeing 747 jumbo jetliners. These are impressive machines and I highly recommend the NatGeo specials.

But, Obama’s got a big problem.

George W. Bush’s administration pushed to revamp the presidential helicopters, and the U.S. Navy awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin for the new choppers as part of a program popularly know as “VXX.” The current Sikorsky helicopters have been flying for nearly 40 years, and in the post-9/11 world, the president needs something more secure. 

The original contract to Lockheed cost the Navy $6.1 billion but has since ballooned to more than $11 billion. Peter Baker, for The New York Times, wrote: “Divided by 28 helicopters, the overall cost works out to $400 million per aircraft, roughly the same as the $410 million that the government paid in 1990 for the latest two Air Force One jetliners plus a hangar.”

There’s no doubt these new VH-71′s are bad-ass helicopters.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 9 pm and is filed under links, news, politics, travel.