US President will now ride in a Rolls-Royce, not a Cadillac

[Corona]

Good for you. Bad for the U.S.A., despite some assembly in the states.

Nope, it's good for me and the USA. I get a better product; America gets a better-run business. My Toyota is the first "foreign" car I've ever owned. I've owned or driven all the domestic makes, and they continually let me down.

BTW, the idea of "foreign" vs "domestic" make has been moot for a decade or more, as some Chevys and Chryslers are made in Mexico, and some Fords are made in Canada, eh?

He[[, what am I saying; Chrysler isn't even an American company anymore.

C

 

[jarhead]

They always launch several helos when the prez needs a lift for decoy purposes. My question is, why do the Marines have a lock on that flying? Why not the Army? The Army's had a much longer aviation tradition than the Marine Corpse.

Ohhhh, I don't know about that. Marines were flying off carriers in WWII. The Army Air Corps turned into the U.S. Airforce long ago, and basically flies just helo's now, while the Marine Corps flies al sorts of a/c..... Harriers to Ospry, F/A18 to C130, and a whole range of helo's.

As far as Marine One, Just like AF One, it's tradition more than anything else, and Marines have security duty with the president at the White House and Camp David.

If we had the Army with POTUS choppers, then the Coast Guard and Navy would want some of that too, and we'd have 100 helos for the POTUS in various livery

 

[BONAFIED]

And last I heard we've got one President, do we really need 23 Marine Ones?

A lot of other dignitaries and government officials are chaufferedaround by this fleet. The choppers often follow the Presidentaround when he travels. As you probably know, the leader of thefree world rolls with a sizeable entourage and security detail. Hell most of the time they need several decoys when he goesanywhere. Given all the contingencies mx notwithstanding, I'msurprised they only got 23.

Side note: I got an impromptu tour of Marine One back in 1995when Clinton was in JAC. SS told my uncle to move his plane toanother td, he said he would if we could get a tour. We hungaround for about 30 min, he came back a gave us a quick walk-through.-Oh the simpler times, how'd it all get so messed up.

 

[FN FAL]

They always launch several helos when the prez needs a lift for decoy purposes. My question is, why do the Marines have a lock on that flying? Why not the Army? The Army's had a much longer aviation tradition than the Marine Corpse.

It's pretty simple there doughboy, the Marines are the Navy's Army. And since the Navy's Army flies aircraft, it's the Navy's Army Airforce. And the Pres is pretty happy riding in the Airforce of the Navy's Army and that's how it's going to be.

 

[jarhead]

It's pretty simple there doughboy, the Marines are the Navy's Army. And since the Navy's Army flies aircraft, it's the Navy's Army Airforce. And the Pres is pretty happy riding in the Airforce of the Navy's Army and that's how it's going to be.

My head hurts after following that all over

 

[Corona]

My head hurts after following that all over

And of course remember the Air Force used to be the Army's Air Force long before there was an Air Force...

C

 

[jarhead]

And of course remember the Air Force used to be the Army's Air Force long before there was an Air Force...

C

Ya, 'dat true too!

 

[jarhead]

If the Navy can have airplanes, how come the Airforce can't have submarines?

 

[FN FAL]

My head hurts after following that all over

Well, that would explain the "leather neck".

 

[Tim47SIP]

Hold your shorts here!

You have to look at percent of parts built in the U.S. as well as assembled in the U.S. versus abroad. You will find that Sikorsky out sources quite a bit of their parts and production side. They have partners with Brazil, China, Japan, Spain and Taiwan. The percentage of parts Sikorsky has manufactured outside the U.S. is very close if not more to the percentage US101 is using. Frankly, Sikorsky was fibbing about an "all American" helicopter. Their tacticts backfired with their pricey advertisement campaign when observers quickly pointed out their high overseas dependence for production requirements.

Another problem arose in Dec of 2001 when the requirments changed due to mission enhancements. The VH-3D's (S-92) performance margines were quickly exhausted. U.S. 101 has maintained greater performance margines and proven technology from the 101 project and may have sealed the bid. It has a larger cabin, longer range, greater payload and a proven combat record. Additionally, the aircraft had to be C-17 compatable which the U.S. 101 was. The aircraft is also using the new GE-T700 engines that produce the highest thrust which have yet to be integrated into the VH-3D.

Personally, I would have liked to see an "all American" aircraft win. But we don't have one. Boeing/Bell would have been the closest that would fit the bill (CH-47 or V-22). So don't jsut kick back and armchair quarterback the idea that the U.S. Gov has gone outside the U.S. for the aircreaft. These aircraft will be 100% built and maintained here in the good old U.S. of A.

On another note, the total package price includes a whole lot more than rogue is thinking. This includes a maintenance, spare parts, publications, tech reps, and priority manufacturing package,as well as additional support for some time to come. Not just research and procurement.

If you need to know where the info came from, find a copy of Roror&Wing, Rotorcraft report, page 8, Dec 2004.