NY Facility Will Outfit Presidential Copters

It was a big day at the Lockheed-Martin campus in Owego, NY Monday. That's when politicians, company big-wigs, bands from the Navy and Marine Corps, and about 500 employees celebrated the completion of Lockheed's new $30-million helicopter integration plant.

This, after Lockheed was the surprise winner in the competition to replace America's fleet of presidential helos.

"The jobs are coming back to the Southern Tier and New York," said US Senator Chuck E. Schumer, D-N.Y. "We're at the dawn of a new day."

The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports 787 workers were hired for the plant last year, with another 500 workers put on the payroll already in 2006 -- pumping an estimated $70 million into the local economy.

Those workers will integrate 23 helicopters, known as VH-71s. Built by a three-way partnership with Italy's Westland-Agusta, and Texas-based Bell Helicopters... the aircraft will arrive in Owego virtually stripped bare. The plant will then outfit the helos to White House specifications.

The first presidential VH-71 should be flying within three years, with all 23 on active duty by 2015.

That won't come a moment too soon for many familiar with the project.

"Every day the president flies in the (current presidential helicopter) I yearn for this new helicopter," said Rear Admiral Mark A. Fox, deputy assistant to the president and director of the White House Military Office.

FMI: www.lockheedmartin.com, www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/vxx.htm