Posted on 05/10/2014 7:05:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Department of Defense awarded a contract on Wednesday to a Connecticut company that will build a fleet of helicopters to replace the Marine One fleet that ferries U.S. presidents short distances.
The contract, given to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, will cost an initial $1,244,677,064 'for the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the Presidential Helicopter Replacement program.' For that price the U.S. Navy will get six test aircraft and all the necessary research & development.
The Pentagon made a similar attempt to replace the aging fleet of Sikorsky choppers, spending $3.2 billion on a landing pad to nowhere.
Adding in the likely $17 billion price tag for the new project – a number estimated by the Congressional Budget Office – the $20 billion total makes the fleet the most expensive helicopters ever built.
The CBO reports that the projected cost also 'does not include costs to keep the 19 existing presidential helicopters in operation until they are replaced by new helicopters.'
During a White House fiscal responsibility summit a month after President Barack Obama took office, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain mocked the boondoggle helicopter upgrade project that was later shelved.
'Your helicopter is now going to cost as much as Air Force One,' McCain said. 'I don't think there's any more graphic demonstration of how good ideas have cost taxpayers an enormous amount of money.'(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Regardless of who is president, the amount of money we spend on them is outrageous.
The wider doors must be for Moochelle.
I'm reminded of a story of Democrat LBJ (who pretty much awarded himself a Silver Star for flying in the Pacific theater, WWII, on a transport plane). He was boarding a helicopter and a sergeant tried to assist him, saying, "This is your helicopter, sir." And Johnson replied, "They're all my helicopters, son." Of course the only time you ever hear of an "imperial presidency" is when a Republican is in the WH. A billion bucks. Incredible.
The ones they use now aren’t that old.
Code name ‘Golfcart?’
Who’s the white guy behind the Kenyan dog-eater?
In the best Austin Powers voice:
That’s a king? That’s a queen, baby!
Good imagination, dressing up three trash cans.
Get him one of these and call it good:
They will not be ready by the time Obama leaves the White House, but President Palin will put them to good use.
Well I am not going to bash Bozo on this one. This is the same program that Bush proposed to award to the British and Obama abandoned 5 years ago.
Yes it is still ridiculously expensive. And that is because the requirements are ridiculous, or at least extreme. And it might be that they should be met.
The helicopter is required to have insane range, have nuclear/EMP survivability, provide secure national emergency communication, and be able to land on The White House lawn.
The helicopters they have meet only the last of these.
A stock S71 has good range and can land at The White House, but will be fried by EMP and does not have the communications channel.
Once you add enough stuff you can’t use a stock airframe, the weights change, the loads change, new structural analyses are required, and airframe redesign thus required, and new NC programs and tooling are then required.It It really does wind up being a whole new helicopter. And so it costs a lot of money.
When an Iranian EMP goes off on the east coast it might be better to have President Gowdy fly rather then walk to Andrews.
Uh, maybe some surplus tanks could be retro-fitted to serve as taxis for Obama?
Obama promised to study War no More, and thus be as Uppity as Hitler was.
Of course, since Hitler had limos with 1.5 inch thick glass windows.
The Democrat’s current Uppity POS will have to have his tank-top viewing bubble thicker and fancier than Hitler’s Limo windows.
Maybe Corning Glass Co. could be Nationalized to take on this as a “Green” Bubble Project?
My guess is that Democrat’s Main Intellectual, Ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will be able to “encourage” Speaker Boehner to keep on coddling Obama by continuing to shower Obama with unlimited amounts taxpayer dollars.
BTW, did the “purse” in that ignored expression”The US House shall have the power of the purse strings - - “ go with Ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi when Boehner replaced her as Speaker?
The choppers aren’t for him. He’ll be long gone by the time they’re ready.
At least you hope so, right?
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