Numbers

Marine One

Officially any United States Marine aircraft that carrying the President of the United States is called "Marine One." However, "Marine One" usually refers to the specially developed helicopter for the President.

How It's Used

"For Clinton to get to New York, he had to fly on Air Force One, which was parked yesterday morning at Andrews Air Force Base. To get to Andrews he had to fly on his helicopter, Marine One. To get him onto Marine One required only that he walk out the back door of his house and across about 50 yards of the south lawn. But even so, it was a complicated procedure, involving dozens of people.

"The departure is a carefully staged event. This is not just a photo opportunity, it's a ritual, a moment of honor befitting the stature of the office.

"Before there is any sign of President Clinton, the South Portico is abuzz with activity. Guards appear everywhere. A fire truck rolls up. An ambulance parks at the nearest gate. The TV camera crews lay out their cables and set up their ladders. The gardeners clip the hedges, edge the lawn, mow. A distant droning grows louder. Just beyond the Washington Monument, the fat chopper moves slowly through the haze.

"Marine One has a hurricane-force rotor. Leaves scatter, the glass trembles, people turn away and cover their ears. The chopper pilot brings the wheels of the craft precisely down onto three round targets that someone has put on the lawn. Aides go to the chopper with garment bags. Military men stand rigidly at attention. The president appears. He offered a feeble wave at the cameras. He walks next to the first lady, but they do not hold hands. She looks straight ahead, unsmiling. A cold front moves through the heat of the morning.

"And then they're in the helicopter, lifting off. It's a raging, violent moment. Marine One is roaring, the noise threatening to obliterate all thought. Then it slowly moves away and disappears in the distance. Brown leaves, blown high, drift back to earth. Everyone can go back to work."

"Cameras tracked his movements as he flew by helicopter to the South Lawn of the White House, snapped a salute to his Marine One guard and walked across the lawn to the Oval Office. It was a journey rich in symbolism: one of Mr. Bush's advisers said it was critical to show that 'the president was back in Washington and there there is a return to something like normality.' Mr. Bush strode across the South Lawn at 7 p.m. and addressed the nation from the Oval Office at 8:30 p.m."

"In awarding the contract for Marine One, the name given to the presidential helicopter, the Navy rejected Sikorsky's argument that the president should fly in a helicopter that was 100 per cent US-made. John Young, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said: 'This decision truly reflects the best value and capability for the American taxpayer who is funding it, the marines who will operate it and the future presidents who will fly in it.'

"But the decision angered some lawmakers. Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat senator from Connecticut, home to Sikorsky's parent company United Technologies, said: 'The Navy's decision today on the Marine One contract is not just disappointing - it is outrageously wrong.'"

"Mr. Gates says the Pentagon won't continue the F-22 program beyond 187 planes already planned. Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed, the nation's largest defence contractor, has said almost 95,000 jobs could be at stake.

"Mr. Gates also said no to a new fleet of Marine One presidential helicopters – with a price tag of $11.2-billion, nearly double the original budget."

"At Stansted, Obama will transfer to his helicopter Marine One, which has flares and anti-missile countermeasures to deal with heat-seeking and radar-guided missiles."

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