The reason why America’s $5 billion helicopter fleet cannot yet carry the president

Bloomberg news agency reported on April 23 that the reason why the VH-92 Patriot fleet has not been used is because they risk burning down the White House lawn. Specifically, the engine exhaust of the VH-92 manufactured by the Sikorsky company will occasionally burn the grass when the helicopter lands. This problem has been discovered since 2018 during the administration of President Donald Trump, but has not been fixed until now.

Therefore, the new VH-92s are only used to transport White House officials and Secret Service agents, instead of transporting the president. In addition, helicopters only land on hard landing areas, instead of grass. Meanwhile, older VH-3D Sea King helicopters continue to transport President Joe Biden, and land on the south lawn of the White House.

The helicopter fleet transporting the US leader includes models VH-3D and VH-60N. When the US President sits in a helicopter, that vehicle will be called Marine One.

The US military wants to replace these old helicopter models with the new VH-92 system under a $5 billion program. Lockheed Martin Corporation, Sikorsky’s parent company, has delivered 20 VH-92s to the US military.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO), mentioned in its June 2020 report that the military “has not yet proven that the new VH-92 helicopters can meet the landing requirements”. the South Lawn of the White House without causing damage.”

“Heat from the auxiliary power supply and from the engine exhaust continues to damage lawns under certain conditions,” GAO emphasized.

In early 2021, the Office of Operational Test and Evaluation of the US Department of Defense determined that the main damage was from engine exhaust, exhaust from the auxiliary power unit, and liquid from the VH-92 helicopter onto the lawn. .

But in its annual report published earlier this year, the Pentagon said the VH-92 “operated effectively,” but did not specifically mention the problem of lawn fires.

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