New Marine One helicopters the U.S. spent $5 billion on aren’t allowed to transport the president because they could burn the lawn

• The United States spent $5 billion on a fleet of new helicopters to transport the president.

• But VH-92 continues to burn the White House lawn, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

• This years-long problem has prevented helicopters from transporting Biden for the time being.

New Marine One helicopters, part of a program the United States spent $5 billion on, still can’t transport President Joe Biden because they still risk burning the White House lawn, according to a new report.

The rotors and engine exhaust of the Sikorsky-made VH-92 Patriot occasionally burn grass when it lands, a problem that was initially identified in 2018, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Because of this ongoing problem, the new VH-92 only carries White House officials or Secret Service members instead of the president himself and can only land on paved surfaces, the report said. Legacy VH-3D Sea King helicopters will continue to transport Biden from the iconic and traditional South Lawn takeoff point.

The executive transport fleet consists of VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters, which are designated “Marine One” when Biden is on board. The U.S. military has sought to replace these aging planes with newer VH-92 systems as part of a $5 billion program and has already secured 20 from Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky’s parent company.

VH-92’s lawn burn issues were first discovered in 2018 during the Trump administration, launching an effort to fix the problem.

The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency, noted in a June 2020 report on the issue that the military “has not yet demonstrated that it can meet the requirement to land on the South Lawn of the White House without causing damage.”

“Heat from the auxiliary power unit and/or engine exhaust continues to damage turf under certain conditions,” GAO wrote at the time.

“The program is investigating solutions,” the GAO said, noting that these included some “modifications to aircraft designs, turf surface treatments, and changes to operational procedures to minimize risks in the landing zone “.

In early 2021, the Department of Defense’s Office of Operational Test and Evaluation determined that “damage was primarily due to engine exhaust, auxiliary power unit exhaust, and fluid spill.” of the plane on the grass.

However, in its 2023 annual report, released earlier this year, the Pentagon said the VH-92 was “operationally effective for administrative transport missions” after the helicopter’s “voice communications” were improved, without specifically mention the lawn problem.

A White House official told Business Insider that the respective offices involved in the program are “working diligently to ensure a smooth, safe and rapid transition” from the current fleet of helicopters to the VH-92.

“This is a goal determined by events and not by time,” the official said.

Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to BI’s questions about continued VH-92 problems. A spokesperson for the defense company, however, told Bloomberg that the company believed it had found a way to resolve the problem.

“We worked closely with our customer and agreed on a landing zone solution with testing planned to validate and ensure the aircraft meets this specific operational requirement,” Melissa Chadwick told the media outlet.

Read the original article on Business Insider