Joe Biden Needs a New Helicopter

The Navy is ordering the next-gen Marine One for POTUS.

• The U.S. Navy has ordered five new VH-92 helicopters.
• The VH-92 helicopter will replace the aging VH-3 as the commuter helicopter for the President of the United States.
• The VH-92 program will purchase 23 helicopters for $4.95 billion, or about the annual defense budget of Belgium.

The U.S. Navy has placed an order for five new VH-92 helicopters, the official vertical transport for the President of the United States. The aircraft will inherit the call sign “Marine One” from an aging fleet of VH-3 Sea King helicopters, which are more than four decades old.

The U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command, or NAVAIR, placed an order for five VH-92A helicopters at a total price of $478.6 million, according to Seapower magazine. The Navy already has four early test aircraft: two Engineering Development Model (EDM) aircraft and two System Demonstration Test Article aircraft. The Navy, which is buying the aircraft on behalf of the Marine Corps, will ultimately purchase 23 VH-92As.

The White House Military Office manages the Sikorsky-built helicopters, which are assigned to the Executive Flight Detachment of Marine Helicopter Squadron 1, or HMX-1. They’re commonly known as “Marine One,” though that call sign typically only applies to any aircraft actually carrying the president.

The helicopters ferry the president from the White House to locations like Camp David, Andrews Air Force Base, and other places in the Washington, D.C. area. The VH-92As also travel with the president abroad, ferried by U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transports worldwide.

The VH-92As will replace VH-60 executive transport helicopters based on the UH-60 Black Hawk and the nearly ancient VH-3D helicopters, which entered service in 1976. The VH-3D is long overdue for a replacement; the SH-3 Sea King, upon which the VH-3D is based, was retired long ago from the rest of the U.S. military.

Previous attempts to field a new Marine One ended in failure, dragging out the replacement process.

As a helicopter designed to both transport and protect the President of the United States, the VH-92A is a unique—and heavily modified—aircraft. The exact equipment set is a secret, but the helicopters are believed to incorporate anti-missile defenses to prevent their downing by surface-to-air missiles. They’re also fitted with a toilet, fancy furniture foreign to military helicopters, and secure communications to allow the president and his staff to remain in touch with the rest of the government while on the move.

The future Marine Ones will be hardened against electromagnetic pulse (EMP), a sudden, powerful burst of energy that can damage or destroy electronics—particularly integrated circuits. Nuclear weapons can generate EMP; even if the president were able to escape a nuclear sneak attack on the White House, the resulting EMP might knock the helicopter down. EMP hardening will keep the VH-92A in the air long enough to transport the president to a secret, alternate seat of government.

The new fleet of 23 VH-92As comes with an estimated program cost of $4.95 billion, which is more than the annual defense budget of Belgium. Still, if these new helicopters last as long as the old ones, the U.S. is arguably getting its money’s worth and won’t have to look for new helicopters until 2064.

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