Biden can't use $5 BILLION fleet of helos because they burn South Lawn

• The new VH-92 Patriot helicopter is only being used on pavement
• Lockheed still working out how to stop it from scorching grass
•  New presidential fleet cost $5 billion to make 

President Joe Biden’s new $5 billion fleet of presidential helicopters has been regulated to second string because they keep scorching the grass on the South Lawn of the White House.

The VH-92 Patriot is landing only on paved runways for now, because its spinning rotors and engine exhaust sometimes scorch the grass where it lands, Bloomberg News reported.

The problem was first identified in 2018 and Biden is using VH-3D Sea King until the scorched earth situation is solved.

The new VH-92 Patriot helicopter being used as Marine One can’t land on the South Lawn of the White House as it torches the grass

Lockheed has delivered 20 VH-92 helicopters to the Marine Corps under the $5 billion program, Lockheed spokeswoman Melissa Chadwick told Bloomberg. She said the company believes it’s found a fix and will start testing soon.

The signature white-topped green helicopter has been used to ferry presidents since 1975.

Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first sitting president to travel by helicopter, going from the White House to Camp David on July 12, 1957.

The South Lawn of the White House is a main fairway to move a president to his  next location. Using a helicopter means the presidential motorcade won’t add to Washington D.C.’s notorious traffic.

Biden uses the presidential helo to travel to Joint Base Andrews to board Marine One for longer trips. He also uses it to fly to Wilmington, Del., for the weekend or to visit Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains.

Currently a mix of the old and new helicopters are being used.

During a Connecticut business forum last year, Paul Lemmo, President of Sikorsky, which designed the helicopter, revealed that the VH-92A helicopters are already operational for certain presidential missions.

‘Right now, there’s a mix of the new aircraft and the old aircraft, and over the next year or so we expect the VH-92 to take over completely,’ Lemmo said, according to CT Insider.

Sikorsky, owned by Lockheed Martin, is a leading aerospace company.

Sikorsky said it expects to complete the 23rd and final helicopter in the summer of 2024. The fleet is to be flown by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1).

The old VH-3D Sea King helicopter is still being used to ferry the president from the White House and back

Lockheed has delivered 20 VH-92 helicopters – the new version of Marine One – to the Marine Corps under the $5 billion program

President Biden uses Marine One to travel to Joint Base Andrews for longer trips or to Wilmington, Delaware, for weekends there

Based at Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico in Virginia, HMX-1 serves as the dedicated United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron, which flies the president, the vice president and other VIPs.

Sikorsky began building the new Marine One helicopters in 2019 and delivered the first two prototypes in November 2021.

That year, the Government Accountability Office estimated the VH-92A’s price tag at $218 million for each helicopter, for a total program cost of $5 billion.

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