NEW YORK, Jan 27 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Friday gets a glimpse into his flying future with the unveiling of his new helicopter fleet after a fierce battle for the contract to replace the venerable dark green and white choppers of today.
While Air Force One, a luxury Boeing 747, whisks presidents around the United States and sometimes the world, for three decades the whirlybirds dubbed Marine One have ferried them around on shorter hauls.
The current chopper fleet is made up of Sikorsky VH-3Ds, (known in Europe by the name Sea King) and has reached the end of its service lifespan.
Friday the Navy was to announce whether Sikorsky, part of United Technologies, or Lockheed Martin, the largest US defense group, which works with a European consortium, will have the honor of building the next fleet of presidential helicopters.
The 1.6 billion-dollar contract is for a fleet of as many as 23 choppers, a sum on the slightly modest side for these major defense players.
But the prestige of being the helicopter maker to the US president gives the contest an intensely competitive edge.
Beyond this contract, the winner would be well situated in a future contest for an Air Force deal later this year for a fleet of 132 top-of-the-line search and rescue choppers to the tune of some six billion dollars.
To replace the Marine Ones now flying, Sikorsky has proposed a new model, the S-92, up against Lockheed-Martin's proposed US-101.
And some of the struggle between contract rivals is shaping up as a potentially patriotic point of contention.
Sikorsky pointedly underscores that the US-101 is European designed. It is based on the EH101 by Agusta Westland, an Anglo-Italian partnership. Both of these partners were US allies in the war in Iraq.
And not everyone in Washington is wild about the idea of the president flying around in a European-designed chopper.
"We have a personal staff dedicated to the S-92 maintainance, and you definitely need an American staff to handle such security requirements," argues Ed Stedham at United Technologies, adding: "Our helicopter carries more staff and it's easily transportable."
Lockheed Martin counters that "the US-101 is an Americanized version of the very popular EH-101 version in Europe.
"There's a misperception that has been unfairly repeated by our critics. We chose Agusta Westland because they had a superior product," Lockeed spokesman Mike Drake said.
"The helicopters will be built in Texas and customized in New York and maintained in the US. Ten percent of the product will come from outside the US," Drake added.
01/27/2005 17:03 GMT - AFP