U.S. President Donald Trump, who has continued White House renovations after beginning his second term, has now started building a helicopter landing site, or a "helipad." As a result, the symbolic scene of a U.S. president boarding a helicopter on the White House lawn is expected to disappear for the first time in about 70 years.
On the 30th of last month, The Washington Post (WP) reported, citing three anonymous officials, that President Trump had begun building a new helicopter landing zone on the White House grounds. The new helipad is being created near the South Portico (the semicircular entrance) of the White House, where Marine One (the U.S. president's helicopter) usually lands.
According to WP, on the previous night construction workers carried out helipad work on the South Lawn, and the site was surrounded by a large fence. The White House has not yet officially announced the helipad construction plan.
The Trump administration moved to build the helipad largely because the next-generation Marine One is likely to damage the White House lawn. The new Marine One VH-92A Patriot, manufactured by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, is designed to vent heat downward from its exhaust, raising the risk of scorching the White House grass.
For that reason, the VH-92A Patriot, which costs $215 million per unit (about 335.1 billion won), is said to have never taken off or landed on the South Lawn. When President Trump visited the Group of Seven (G7) summit in France this month, an older model of Marine One was deployed.
Trump's "love of helicopters" also appears to have influenced the helipad decision. Since his days as a real estate magnate, Trump has long favored helicopters, including ones bearing his name.
Previous U.S. presidents also pushed for helipad construction, but efforts repeatedly fell through for various reasons. The symbolic image of a president boarding a helicopter on the White House lawn has been maintained across administrations for about 70 years, which is cited as one reason.
By contrast, for Trump, who has pushed ahead with White House renovations since taking office, building a helipad appears to have been a relatively easy decision. Since taking office, he has faced criticism for various White House makeover projects, including remodeling the Lincoln bathroom, applying gold leaf decorations to the Oval Office, planning an expensive banquet hall, and creating a "presidential hall of honor" that mocks past Democratic presidents.
Lockheed Martin funds are being used for the helipad construction. Earlier, WP reported that about $5 million (about 7.8 billion won) in donations would be used for a helipad managed by the White House Military Office. A Lockheed Martin official said the company plans to donate $5 million to support the helipad construction expense.
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Ray LeRoe, who once commanded Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), the presidential helicopter unit, said, "Because the new Marine One program is a project with massive expense, it is undesirable in many respects not to fully utilize its capabilities," adding, "Operating helicopters to shuttle the president to and from the White House is paramount for smooth mission execution and for protection and security."