Securing America: Marine One Upgrade

Marine One is about to get a major upgrade. The U.S. Navy picking a replacement for the chopper of the Commander-in-Chief

FOX News Radio’s Steve Taylor has the report in this installment of “Securing America”:

Securing America.

Some of the choppers that carry the President are pushing 40 years old. So the Navy has awarded a $1.2 billion contract to Sikorski for a new fleet of Marine One helicopters. Captain Dean Peters says it’s based on the company’s S-92 chopper.

(Peters) “It incorporates some of the knowledge that they gained from other military contracts that they’ve had in the past but it’s something that they developed on their own for the commercial market.”

An earlier attempt to replace Marine One never got off the ground after billions of dollars of cost overruns. That effort sought to create an all-new chopper. This time the Navy went off the shelf.

(Peters) “One of the differences with this program is that the requirements are actually achievable.”

The contract is for six Marine One helicopters but that could be expanded to 17. The first one is expected to be in service by 2020.

In Washington, Steve Taylor, FOX News Radio.