The Tale Of The New Presidential Helicopter

The saga of the New Presidential helicopter. It is a tale of politics, politics, and even more politics.

Two companies competed for the initial contract. Sikorsky Helicopter based in Connecticut and Lockheed Martin based in Maryland.

Sirkorsky builds helicopters. That is what they do. That is all they do. They have done it well since day 1. They have been the only provider of Presidential helicopters.

Lockheed has never built a helicopter ever. That was not an impediment to them bidding for the new contract though. They teamed up with two European companies to help with the project. One in Italy and one in Britain.

It was unthinkable that the US President would be flown around in a European built helicopter. So it seemed the odds of Lockheed winning the contract were not good.

In 2005 Republican George W Bush was President. He had no use for Democratic leaning Connecticut. With it's Democrat Senator Dodd and it's Democrat Senator Lieberman (Who ran against Bush in 2000). Bush tried to kill the Sub Base in Groton just to spite Connecticut. He failed but his distaste for the state did not waver.

Also in 2005 the Iraq War was raging and Bush didn't have many friends. As a result he rewarded the few friends he had (Britain and Italy) while at the same time sticking it to Connecticut. Lockheed and the Europeans won the contract despite all common sense.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/29/business/29copter.html

Because Lockheed never built a Helicopter the costs ballooned (as they always do) and politically the new helicopters became a hot potatoe. By 2008 Obama promised to kill the helicopter because the one he had was just fine.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4800510/Barack-Obama-scraps-costly-new-helicopters.html


President Obama rode into Washington promising change . He was going to get rid of waste. He was going to review the budget line by line and cancel all unnecessary spending.

To show he was serious he did exactly what he said and he killed to new Helicopter. How refreshing a politician who does what he says.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/us/politics/16helicopter.html

Oh wait.....Not so fast. What is this..... The Helicopter is back. Obama was just kidding. Now that nobody is paying attention it is safe to bring the boon dogle back. Less then a year after the new Helicopter was killed ...it is back. Surprise!!!!!!!

With the same players bidding (all over again) for more free government money. The current presidential helicopter was fine last May but 10 months later it is time to do it all over again.

Another Obama smoke and mirrors illusion show. Obama makes David Copperfield look like an amateur.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/02/military_marine_one_helos_021710w/

Now to ensure there is no debate regarding should Lockheed get the contract or should Sikorsky get the contract both companies will work together. That will stop all the pesky squabbling and allow everyone to share in the free government giveaway.
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-presidential-helicopter-sikorsky-0419,0,6540205.story

Obama..Change you can believe in.