what were they thinking?

[totient]

$11.2 billion for a replacement for Marine One? You could build a deep-bore tunnel from the White House to Andrews for half a billion. No wonder Obama is reviewing that program.

Comments

[c1.livejournal.com]

Especially as this is a helo already in service (it saw combat action in Bosnia). What more than "wrap the seats in hand-stitched Corinthian leather and toss in the requisite communications gear" does this boondoggle really need?

[frotz.livejournal.com]

At a guess, a huge amount of communications gear and another huge pod of anti-everything electronic countermeasures. Also multiplied by however large the fleet of helicopters that serve "Marine One" duty might be.

But despite working on and around all manner of aircraft, including the rather not-cheap F-22, I can't wrap my brain around spending 11 billion on a handful of helicopter refits. Blblblbl.

[cos]

They could buy... about 78 or 79 more F-22's for that $11.2 billion.

[c1.livejournal.com]

Also multiplied by however large the fleet of helicopters that serve "Marine One" duty might be.

I have a relative who was* a pilot in HMX-1 (the USMC parlance for the helicopter squadron that, in part, flies Marine One). At least back then, there's three birds active at a time: the VIP, the backup, and the "parts truck". They're all the same model of aircraft: whatever is good enough to truck around spare parts is good enough to truck around VIPs.
Newbies fly the parts truck, and ultimately, graduate to the big bird, before rotating out to the advanced planning team (for those missions that aren't between the South Lawn and Andrews AFB). Of course, at the point when you've been chosen to join HMX-1, your logbook is already thick, so "newbie" is a relative term.

I'd bet whatever's changed in C3 needs, $11B would go a long way to refitting a solid dozen Sea Kings (the current helo) to current standards. And really, if that's not already been done, why is everyone in a kerfluffle about Obama's Blackberry?

*It's a short-term gig: you do it for a couple years, then rotate back into the regular forces.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Apparently there are 28 of them, and they fly 5 at once in a shell-game pattern to make it hard to tell which one the President is in. They also ship them all over the world; it's not just for jaunts to Andrews. What I don't understand is how come all five of the ones they fly at once have to cost $400 million.

[fizzixrat.livejournal.com]

Technically, *any* helicopter that the President of the United States steps inside instantly becomes Marine One, just as any airplane he's inside instantly becomes Air Force One while he's on board.

There's a low-cost alternative lurking in the paragraph above, of course...