Obama: Marine One needs lube, that's all

O my. Not a good sign for Boeing et al.

A President who actually cancels aircraft orders???

What is he thinking!

To spend the money on schools instead?

All Marine One needs is a good inside/out detail job to get rid of all of the leftover Bush stench.

Leave it to the Tribune to give a negative headline when Obama wants to save more than $11 billion.

The headline makes it sound like Obama is a "helicopter junkie" who can't get enough of riding around in Marine One.

Here's a more accurate headline:
Obama wants to cut $11 billion in copter purchase

Lets see. Who was president in 2005 when this idiotic, corrupt contract was signed? You better tell McCain--he thinks it is Obama's fault.

Speaking of "old rust-buckets":

When McCain lost, I didn't know that meant that we were going to be subjected to four years of his political preening and posturing. Too bad he and Sarah "Look at Me" Palin just can't give up that spotlight.

I see nothing wrong with him getting a new helicopter. Especially if its a safety issue. 40 years is mighty old.

Before the President cancels the contract, it would be good to know how much has been paid out to date, and how much more is needed to complete the contract and have the fleet delivered.

Before throwing away what has been spent, we should know the answer to the last paragraph.

I say we double the order on the lube so we can have a little fun with shrub. Maybe everyone that got screwed this last 8 years can pick a garden tool or vegetable and return the favor. Oh, I guess we would have to fly him to Egypt first though....to use his rules.

Wow, is Obama for real?

I thought he was just like every other lying scum-bag politician. After 8 years of Bush I think I may have become jaded.

Okay, let's see what he do,
stand up-side
and let the man go through.

While replacing all 28 choppers is a bit much, let's not forget the reason why this got started... the President simply can't communicate well in Marine One.

So, the next national emergency and Obama can't raise the Army or whoever while on Marine One and everyone will be howling about "how did this happen?!"

Perhaps an upgrade to the communications and just a few new helicopters?

The thought of Obama or anyone else being carried around in 40 year HELICOPTERS for crying out loud really makes me nervous. Nonetheless, the replacement is an example of yet another procurement, and in particular yet another aircraft procurement, that got completely out of control. $11 billion to buy a mere 28 copters, whose bodies and rotors are made in Yeovil, England, and whose gearboxes are made in Italy, and which are then shipped over here to be stamped with Lockheed and Bell logos. It about says it all.

Heh...a President who actually couldn't care less about some of the trappings of office...and who is willing to apply cuts to himself as well as others...pinch me, I'm dreaming.

What a refreshing change over the Bush Cheney admin...not only would they have fought to get the new toys, they would have squirreled some way to benefit their friends.

Wow! Now is he getting blamed for attempting to cut costs too? Oh my god! Give that man a break! I appreciate his decision not to renew the copter contract. But the last thing, I want to hear is that an American president's copter was made to land in Lake Michigan, as its fan blades dropped off! There is already plenty of negative news everywhere!

But seriously.

Could this be the first step in some serious Pentagon auditing and budget cutting?

And deficit cutting??

Whoa, Nelly!

Yes the aircraft are old. Most were built in the late 60's early 70's. Only through hard work and dedication do the Marines of HMX-1 keep these aircraft running safely. On the new Helicopters, I am glad they might be axed. The biggest reason is that the new helicopter is actually British. Lockheed got the contract cause they were low bidder thanks to the foreign helicopter. I don't care who is President, he/she should be transported in a AMERICAN made helicopter!!!

The only reason that a foreign maker won the contract was that no one else made one where someone could stand up while boarding/leaving.

It's not very "Presidential" to scoot over on a seat and emerge all hunched over.

The military procurement process has always had this problem of overspending, e.g., our tax dollars paying $1.15 for a rivet for an airplane when you can get the exact same one for 5¢, or maybe even 3 for 5¢.

Cost overrun is the name of the game and the taxpayers are footing the bill.

There is no way that a helicopter costs $124 million. A Gulf Stream jet can be "procured" for less than $30 million.

While Obama might have said that he'll keep the old chopper, my hunch is that, very quietly, the new contract will be signed, sealed and delivered.

Are you kidding? obama is spending money as soon as obama can print it. obama is spending trillions and some people are worried about a simple 20 billion. It's like going to the candy store and spending a couple of dollars, but then coming back and buying the whole chain.

Let Xhibit Pimp the chopper"

The helicopters may be 40 years old according to their serial numbers, but they are completely (and I mean completely) disassembled and rebuilt every couple years. There isn't a 40 year old part left in any of them.

Would be interesting to know where these helicopters are prepositioned. Do the logistics of short-hop and ground transportation of presidents involve cargo planes, or is a helicopter flown ahead? I'd assume that the new limousine rides in the cargo bay of Air Force One?

"The estimated cost of each chopper has grown by $124 million, about 50 percent..."
That means a new one would cost around $250 million.
For a helicopter?
For that cost, it should fold your laundry and come up with a plan for world peace.
I agree with the guy who says they're rebuilt every couple of years.
The upgrades probably have to do with communications technology and not so much with the actual flight of the machine. Maybe they want to install a new fax machine.
Anyway --- not needed.
At least not 28 of them.

I don't much like Obama and didn't vote for him. However, he is our president and he should have the best helicopter money can buy. Our president should not have to take unnecessary risks by flying in old equipment.

I would think that they would look at the helicoptors one by one and see if any are costing way too much to keep running. After that maybe replace a few at a time or even downsize the fleet. Boing is one of our local companies that would mean more local layoffs if they lose an $11 billion deal.

I don't disagree with the president but I think it would be better to see 11 billion go out to actually buy something and make a company work for the money then give it to them in a stimillus plan.

The finest lubrication oils are made from West Texas Intermediate crude ~ $4500, American. Per quart. Cash. No Credit. Can surely hook you up. Rick Perry needs to get on this.

Do any of you fly his helicopter? Do any of you work on his helicopter? Do any of you work on defense procurement?

If you answered 'yes' to any of the above questions, post away. If not, be quiet...you don't know what you are talking about.

In a situation of crime and security, it is usually good to follow the money while starting an investigation, Who gets to gain from the leaking of the Marine One specs.

1. Does Iran get to gain security advantage by having the specs of Marine One leaked.

2. Does someone else get to gain "another" type of advantage by having the specs of Marine One leaked.

Answer:
-------

...its easy to kill a dog by first giving it a bad name....

First and foremost,

At face value one would think that its true, that Iran was trying to obtain and utilise the security and design details of Marine One. On one hand one can deduce that Iran is trying to gain military leaverage by obtaining the military specs of Marine One.
Yet on the other hand, one starts to smell a rat when you realise the following:

1. it is not in the interest of Iran's military ambition to bring about increased suspicion upon itself, attempting to get the details of the Marine One in itself would have been a stupid step at keeping under the radar.

2. The military industrial complex benefits financially whenever there is a war, security threat or rumour of war, hence the detail of the Marine One could easily have been planted in a way the would make the public perceive Iran as an iminent security threat to the President of the United States. Remember all evidences and investigations point to the fact that Neo-cons deceived Americans into going into a War with Iraq and Afghanistan by planting the false information that Taliban and Saddam had something to do with the 911 attack, despite the fact that evidences point to the contrary.

3. Neo-conservatives are a branch of the New World Order hence it is no suprise a lot of Geo-political Manipulation of the World and the America citizens is being done in other to bring about an establishment of their goals and plans through fear mongering.

4. Neo-conservatives are looking for every possible reason to go make the US go to war with Iran.

5. Military Industrial complex gains financial benefits from the security fall out of having to protect the president from a new security loophole that has been created as a result of the leaked security details of Marine One.

6. The President just recently scrapped the recent development of a "New Presidential Helicopter" (an undesirable loss of money to those who have already invested in the project), hence it is in the interest of those private investors if the President can be forced to continue the development and procurement of a new generation of Presidential Helicopters by making sure that the current Presidential Helicopter i.e. Marine One becomes a security risk by leaking its details to the visible perceived threat to the US (i.e. Iran in this case).

7. Iran is not really as sophisticated as Neo-Cons would want everyone to believe.

8. Marine One specifications could easily have been leaked to the Irans as a bait through which Neo-Cons would then have a reason to call Iran a security threat such that it would thus be easier to drum up support for a reason to attack Iran.

9. Linking the leaked details of Marine One to the Iranians is a good way for Neo-Cons to manipulate the American public into thinking that Iran poses a domestic and foreign security threat to the US, because they end up manipulating the public into thinking that Iran has developed the capability to strike at the Marine One Presidential Helicopter.

I hope the American public would resist being duped into allowing US to wage a military campaign against Iran and I hope the US would resist allowing the Military Industrial complex to manipulate the people into continue to fund programs the continue to enrich the Elites and Neo-cons while impoverishing the general public.

Secondly, everyone needs to realise that just P2P networks do not share information by itself, rather it is people that use P2P networks to share information. information being shared via P2P networks can both be good and bad, however that does not warrant labelling P2P networks as completely evil in itself. Also it is an open secret that Neo-cons and the New World Order have being doing everything possible to restrict the freedom of the internet and the American people, hence it is easy for them to also use the case of the leaked Marine One details to further introduce measures that further restrict the freedom of information and freedome of the internet.

Hence i also hope the american people would also resist this attempt at introducing further laws and controls that would ultimately further restrict the freedom of the american people.