President Donald Trump’s latest Washington remodel — a new helicopter landing pad on the White House’s South Lawn — may end up as one of his least contentious construction projects in the capital.
The president said on Monday that the helipad construction would be paid for by the Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky, which then-President Barack Obama tapped to develop new, state-of-the-art Marine One copters back in 2014. The company’s revamped presidential helicopters cost $5 billion but had proven unable to land on the lawn presidents commonly depart from because their exhaust damaged landing zones, essentially leaving the government with expensive rotorcrafts that couldn’t always be used.
“Our other Marine Ones are about 40 years old. … They’re about two-and-a-half times more powerful than the old ones,” Trump said Monday of the new helicopters. “And when you land on the grass, it’s not that the grass gets discolored, it gets ripped out.”
He suggested that Sikorsky was paying for the helipad because the company “felt a little bit guilty” about the effects of its new Marine Ones.
The Trump administration has considered how to fix the issue since early last year — one official noted that it had asked Sikorsky about fixing the strength problem but was told that wasn’t feasible. Officials have long privately indicated that the company should provide a solution for the helicopters’ landing troubles.
Lockheed has landed several major contracts recently, including two multibillion-dollar ones in June: $35 billion to quadruple production of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, and $3 billion to produce GMLRS rockets.
The former was announced the same day that CEOs from major defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin, met with Trump at the White House to discuss accelerating weapons production amid concerns over US stockpile levels. Earlier, the company also secured a $4.7 billion contract for PAC-3 missiles in April and a $10.9 billion award to Sikorsky in September to produce CH-53K King Stallion helicopters. But many of those were expected to go to Lockheed, which has been on board with other Trump projects.