Obama Faces Tough Decision On Pricey Presidential Helicopters

WASHINGTON - President Obama has slammed high-flying executives traveling in cushy jets at a time of economic turmoil. But soon he will have to decide whether to proceed with some of the priciest aircraft in the world - a new fleet of 28 Marine One helicopters that will each cost more than the last Air Force One.

A six-year-old project to build state-of-the-art presidential helicopters has bogged down in a contracting quagmire that will challenge Mr. Obama's desire to rein in military contracting expenses. The price tag has nearly doubled, production has fallen years behind schedule and much of the program has been frozen until the new administration figures out what to do about it.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[nogimmicks]

That is not a touch decision at all. The importance of this decision is less than 0.01% compared decisions influencing the federal budget, national dept etc. Deciding to print an extra trillion dollars must have been a tough decision.

[IndyReader]

If they'd gone on and given the contract to Sikorsky they probably would've had new helicopters. No, they give it to a company that's never even built one before. Even Northrup-Grumman would've been a better vendor than L-M.

[NoblesseOblige]

Economize. But, please keep our president safe. I'm all for whatever it takes to do the job.

[KofTX]

Why does EVERYTHING have to be viewed through a Liberal or Conservative looking glass? Whatever happened to PRACTICALITY? There is a real case to be made for modernizing the fleet, yet the project is way over budget due to inept planning and unrealistic timetables. Fix what is broken and proceed. Review the contracts and set an appropriate timetable. Re-forecast the budget and make a decision as to the feasibility of the project. There should be no choice between the President's safety and fiscal responsibility. Take what safety concerns there are and address them in the most fiscally responsible way possible. Period.

[ruffmama]

agree! Very smart post. Perhaps they should just just make 10 of them instead 28?

[karela]

How about if we order two. If they get those made on time and on budget, we order two more, etc. Companies would do better if they suffered for not getting it right and were rewarded only if they got it right. Nobody else could afford to run a business like this. Also, no more generals adding a million in cost here and there by deciding late in the process that they want blue leather and carpet instead of tan leather and carpet as they did with the "pods" they designed to function as offices to be loaded on transport planes for the brass.

[OldKnute]

Yes. More BUSH Legacy Snafu!

Ordered in 2002?

OMG,, Bush is still with us,,, like a bad penny. What was Bush doing all these years? Didn’t he even follow up by asking what had happened to the order????? Of HIS Helicopters?

OMG!

6 YEARS!

And they STILL aren’t ready!

Not good at all.

All the best

Knute

[Prakosh]

This apparently was as much Cheney and Rumsfeld as Bus . The three stooges of the last administration have struck another blow for incompetence. I wonder how many more of these boondoggles are out there waiting to be discovered. My guess, plenty.

[BarackstarObama]

Hence Keith's current segment, StillBushed! LOL

[osusana]

there's undoubtedly enough material to keep this feature of KO's show going for a looonnng time!

[1differentdrummer]

Name one thing George's people managed well, can you?

[karinova]

Not to simplify this too much, but why exactly do we need 28 of these helicopters? That can carry 14 people? We only have one President, yo. Even accounting for escort/decoy choppers, that still seems like at least 10 helicopters too many.

Also.
Seriously, Defense: can you do ANYTHING on budget?
Good grief.

[GeorgeP922]

Learn about the ins and outs of the AF1 and MF1.

Seriously folks, learn a little about aviation too.

Whereever Obama flies in copters they have THREE in the air next to him for security.

When he went to Chicago by Airforce1 he was picked up at the airport by THREE waiting Marine Force one copters.

How did they get there? Well the ARMY flew them in a jumbo cargo jet.

My point is, with the amount of service they do on these vehicles, along with them needed to be in several places at one.

28 is a very fair number.

Do more research, I find the security opps for our commander in chief to be facinating.

[karinova]

I certainly don't claim to be an expert-- I hope that was obvious!
And believe me, I care about the POTUS's safety.
I read that article carefully, and nothing you're saying here wasn't in it.

I know that 3-4 helicopters are used at a time. That (in my layperson's mind) doesn't account for 7x that number. And the article noted the age and unreliable condition of the existing fleet-- which explains why there are 19 helicopters now. But if they're building a brand new fleet, I would hope that they could do the job with the same number (if not fewer).

What am I missing?

[prosha]

Do any of these aircraft have solar panels? The Obama's are very green I've heard.

[karela]

I get your point about maintenance and deception helicopters, but really, even if they put four in the air every time the President goes up, that means that 28 represents seven complete sets. That still seems over the top. Apparently two Air Force One's are adequate. Somebody in the Bush administration in 2002 got that happy no limit military spending feeling. We absolutely must keep the President safe, but we don't need seven Air Force One's to do it and it seems unlikely that we need seven sets of four Marine One's to do it.

[NickCatal]

You know, we got in this last mess because we couldn't wait for better intel... perhaps the 20 minutes it would take to land a current, already paid for, helicopter somewhere secure would be great thinking time before blowing something up on the other side of the world

Just an idea

[CAHertzfe]

If the contracts have doubled.... cancel them.

[karinova]

Clearly.
Cancel the contracts and take every nut, bolt, prototype and blueprint they managed to generate (at a cost of $11.2 billion).

And there ought to be (but surely isn't) a penalty clause in there for going over (the probably nonexistent) due date.

[weatherwaxx]

More of Boy George's toys....

but personally I want to see President Obama safe. The execs can ride commercial airplanes for awhile... maybe if they complain enough we'll see some of the 'security' excesses modified.

[GeorgeP922]

Well, FWIK these planes are 100% by the resepctive airforce (planes) and Marines (helicopters) their projects.

Again, Our govt spends BILLIONS protecting the president

Just watch any of hte documentaries on Airforce 1 and Marine 1, plus secret service.

You would be AMAZED at how much money we spend to protect the President.

Worth EVERY dollar, I never worry for his safety in those planes and helicpoters.

[LiberalBuzz]

TWENTY EIGHT??

TWENTY EIGHT??

What is wrong with 6 or 7?

[CrittersRTasty]

Ditto!

[GeorgeP922]

Its a fleet man.

An example, if the president needs to fly from the wh to camp david, along with the REST of security, his copter is flanked by 2 identical copters (interweaving to dicourage identifying which is which,

Now if the President is fllying to Iowa with Airforce 1 for a town hall, he will land at the airport to another THREE Marine One choppers.

The controversy is not and should not have ANYTHING to do with money.
The Airforce, Marines and Secret Service what I imagine to be 1 billion a year (minus hardware) to transport and protect our Commander in Chief.

The ONLY issue anyone has is the prestige the current choppers which the Marines have used for 25 years to transport the president.

The controversy lies in that nastalgia.

I condmen the President for not pushing this forward. Helicopters are very dangerous and can be easily taken out.

If they want another 10 billion for this project, PLEASE DO IT!

[karinova]

Okay, now that I'm seeing your other posts, I'm like, "whaa...?"

Did you actually read this article?
Of course they do (and well should) spend a ton of money protecting the President.
But of COURSE this is about money-- the contract for this is at $11.2B-- and they're over budget! To clarify: the controversy here is not about spending money, and it's not about nostalgia. It's about going 100%+ over budget on a vital government contract, with no remedial action in sight!

[1differentdrummer]

Yeah, but they get a volume discount.

[iswideopen]

Boycott the New York Times.

[iswideopen]

Why don't you post my comments; are they too "truthful" for you?

[GeorgeP922]

Well if you are too liberal, or call other liberals to be more active that gets banned.

This site wants to be seen as a non partisan news site (not counting blogs)

[GeorgeP922]

Also comments that slam the worst person employeed by Obama (Rahm Emanuel)

There are alot of former DLC and Think Progress employees here, afraid of losing their "junk" to some scissors. (now lets see if that gets banned)

[karinova]

It happens to everyone.
It's quite random. For example, even the word "off.end" trips the f i l t e r.

You know, for fear of off.end.ing anyone.

[vcalzone]

Cause you're clearly a crybaby.

[kevenseven]

Bush kicks the can down the road again.

That drunk could not make a single decision.