Pentagon may build two different presidential helicopters

As the White House and the Pentagon weigh options to replace the canceled VH-71 presidential helicopter program, officials are considering buying two types of choppers for the next fleet.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers Wednesday that the president may need two helicopters at his disposal -- one to ferry him on routine trips, such as from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base or Camp David, and a more capable escape helicopter designed for emergencies.

"One of the things we're thinking about is that, in fact, all of the requirements that are being placed on this helicopter may not be feasible in a single helicopter," Gates told the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee during a hearing on his fiscal 2010 budget request.

Gates said he is reviewing several ideas for the next presidential helicopter program, but he did not elaborate on what kinds of capabilities the Pentagon would seek for the aircraft. But he said the escape helicopter could be a modified version of a combat aircraft.

In April, Gates announced plans to cancel the VH-71 after the program's costs soared from $6.1 billion to more than $13 billion for 28 aircraft. During the hearing Wednesday, he acknowledged that a major problem with the VH-71 program was the proliferation of requirements for the helicopter.

Critics of the program have said requirements for the VH-71 spun out of control. They included increases in the range of the helicopter and the number of passengers it must carry to changes in the amount of protective gear required onboard. Earlier this year, President Obama called the program "an example of the procurement process gone amok."

On Friday, the Pentagon issued a stop-work order to prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., which was assembling the VH-71 in Owego, N.Y. The Pentagon directed the Navy, which managed the program, to devise alternatives to the canceled program within 30 days.

Meanwhile, Gates said the Pentagon plans to spend $1.2 billion to terminate the VH-71 program and upgrade the fleet of decades-old VH-3 Sikorsky helicopters that carry the president as Marine One.

Until a new helicopter is ready, Gates said, the Navy and the Secret Service are confident that the current fleet of choppers is "safe and secure."

Gates said he opposed any congressional efforts to save the VH-71 program by limiting it to less-capable Increment 1 versions of the helicopters, instead of the fully loaded Increment 2 choppers that were to comprise the bulk of the fleet.

Buying a fleet of 23 of the less-capable VH-71s would cost $485 million apiece, but the aircraft would lack necessary protections against chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and have only 55 percent of the range of the existing VH-3s, Gates said.

"Even if we bought Increment 1 we would have to then initiate a new presidential helicopter program anyway to get to some of the capabilities that were going to be in Increment 2," Gates said.

The Defense Department has spent $3.2 billion since it awarded Lockheed Martin and its partner AgustaWestland the prestigious contract in 2005.