The Washington Post is reporting that the cost of a new fleet of Marine One helicopters has nearly doubled, to about $400 million each.
It is essentially a military style combat helicopter supposedly intended for use as a surveillance platform and for large crowd control missions. With powerful armament, stealth technology that allows it to fly virtually undetected, and other accoutrements (such as infrared scanners, powerful microphones and cameras, and a U-Matic VCR), it appears to be a formidable tool in the war on terror.
Just kidding. I only changed about six words of a description of the 1983 movie, Blue Thunder. Makes you wonder how much Lockheed Martin is charging taxpayers for press packages when the documentation is already out there! Still, the Post does not say if the new Marine One can do a 360-degree loop. How much would that be worth?
On the cheaper end of military spending, one Halloween Harvest Parade on base, we discovered that our daughter had been turned into a helicopter and paraded around as part of a fleet of Future Pilots of America, complete with a uniform shirt. Note her propeller. The motto on her shirt, Flying High, probably needs some refining before it is suitable for a president. Though maybe that depends on the president.
Monday at base day care: “On March the 17th we will wear green for Green Day. Our activities will include singing, discussing things that are green and painting with green paint.” Citrus is…a punk rocker!
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Here’s a some history and background on Marine One’s role as the President’s helicopter:
https://www.hmx-1.usmc.mil/deps/efd/?page=history
The Executive Flight Detachment operates primarily out of an alert facility just down the road from Citrus’s daycare, at Naval Support Activity Anacostia.