McCain Supports Defense Budget

John McCain throws his support behind defense secretary Robert Gates' defense budget that he announced today. Watch it here. 

Transcript here. Read more about the budget at the Department of Defense here.
The budget cancels the presidential helicopter project that McCain suggested Obama axe and Obama was all too happy to oblige, saying the helicopter he had was fine.

The secretary also would like to end other under-performing programs, such as the VH-71 presidential helicopter. “This program was originally designed to provide 23 helicopters to support the president at a cost of $6.5 billion,” he said. “Today, the program is estimated to cost over $13 billion, has fallen six years behind schedule, and runs the risk of not delivering the requested capability.”

The new budget also cancels the F-22 in favor of the F-35.
But expect a lot of Boo Hoo-ing from Boeing, Lockheed and other defense contractors, lawmakers and hard right extremists, Fox "News" and Rudy Guiliani. Much was cut and priorities were shifted. There will be a lot of complaints about jobs lost and security risks....

Gates said he didn't take politics into account:

I set out here to develop a budget and a program, really, that I thought best served the national security interests of the United States. And I, frankly, decided that I would not take the political issues associated with any of these programs into account; I would just do what I thought was best for the country. And my hope is that in the months ahead, that, first, the president will approve this budget, and then second, that the Congress, after careful deliberation, will support as much of it as possible.

There will be a new competition for a new presidential copter:

Q Then, just -- did I understand correctly that you want to restart the presidential helicopter competition, write new requirements, or --

SEC. GATES: Yes. We will -- we need -- there needs to be a new presidential helicopter. There's still good service life left in the ones that are in the fleet right now. So we have time to do this. And so we will begin a review of the requirements with the White House as soon as the FY '10 budget is submitted.

Don't Cancel Those Helicopters

You remember the helicopter that McCain and Obama bantered about.
Some say it would be a waste of money if 20-some super duper helicopters didn't get built. It doesn't look as though any republicans are for the project and the democrats appear to be protecting jobs:

CQP: In the letter, the members said they were “alarmed by the political controversy surrounding the VH-71 program and fear it could lead to a decision that jeopardizes the security of our commander-in-chief and wastes valuable taxpayer money.”

The signatories included Maurice D. Hinchey , D-N.Y., an appropriator in whose district Lockheed Martin Corp., the project’s main contractor, integrates the subsystems on the chopper. Another signatory was Michael Arcuri , D-N.Y., in whose adjoining district many of the plant’s workers reside. The letter was signed by several other members who do not appear to have a direct constituent interest in the program.

The Navy’s plan is to buy the helicopters in two phases, the second of which would improve upon the first’s capabilities, with an upgraded engine and new rotor blades, for example. The Navy would buy nine Increment 1 aircraft (four for testing, five for use in the squadron), followed by 23 Increment 2 choppers. The Increment 1 aircraft, in the current plan, are an interim solution, to be replaced by Increment 2 aircraft in fiscal 2019.

In their letter, however, the lawmakers embrace a proposal by Lockheed Martin to jettison the ambitious Increment 2 helicopters and focus on building only Increment 1 models, which they said could be done for the original cost projection.

“Without question, simply cancelling VH-71 at this advanced stage would be the least responsible alternative both for the safety of your office and the investment of the American taxpayer,” the members wrote.

The Obama administration is reviewing the $13 billion project.

Military Analysts: Obama Needs Fleet of 28 Helicopters

Yesterday McCain held up Marine One as an example of government waste. Obama agreed (see video). He joked with McCain that the helicopter he had seemed good enough, even though Lockheed Martin is building 28 new ones.

Military analysts say Obama needs the new copters because the 19 (why are they building 28?) that he has now are old and don't have the protection or the communications that they need.

I'd buy that he might need a slightly updated helicopter, and he might need a handful for his travel and the travel of other top officials. But 28? With crazy bells and whistles? B.S.

AP: The existing 19 helicopters built by United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky Aircraft are more than 30 years old, and several have broken down on presidential trips. But most worrisome is that the current fleet does not meet the communication and protection needs of the White House, according to military analysts.

They would say that because that's the way procurement works -- soak the government for as much money as possible. EVERYONE knows that's the way it is. Look at Halliburton. Look at what contractors did in Iraq, built things for billions that didn't even work.

In fact, this is George Bush's type of Porkulus, to borrow a term from Limbaugh.

Notice in this bit that Thompson's client is Lockheed. The fact that he's not lobbying for Lockheed on this particular project makes no difference in his bias:

But Loren Thompson, a defense consultant for the Lexington Institute in Virginia, disagrees. The current presidential helicopter is "dangerously outdated," he said.
Thompson's clients include Lockheed Martin Corp., the prime contractor on the new helicopters, though he is not working for the company on the program.

The new fleet cost:

Cost overruns and delays have plagued Lockheed's helicopter program due partly to aggressive plans by the Bush administration to incorporate anti-missile defenses, communications equipment, hardened hulls and other advanced capabilities on the aircraft following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Analysts say those efforts — which have inflated the cost of the fleet of 28 new Marine One helicopters — have not been wasted. "You can't lose the president of the United States," McAleese said. "This aircraft only has one purpose and that is to protect the president."
But the new fleet — with a price tag of $11.2 billion that is nearly double the original budget-- will cost more than Air Force One.

Obama may not have a choice?

Wayne Plucker, a senior aerospace analyst for Frost and Sullivan, said it would be difficult to cancel the entire helicopter program because of the political implications.
But Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the Pentagon "can't just send a boiler plate certification."
"They're going to have to go through the kind of a financial assessment that they do when they start up a weapons system," the chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee told reporters Tuesday.
Levin and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., introduced a bill Tuesday to prevent cost overruns and schedule delays in many Pentagon weapons programs.

The fact that Levin and McCain introduced a bill today means that Obama might've known that McCain's helicopter question was coming.

Obama and McCain at Fiscal Summit Video

Funny helicopter exchange: