Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that a granite helipad is being built on the White House lawn, saying it is needed for new, more powerful presidential helicopters. He said the project would be paid for privately and could cost up to USD 6 million.
Trump confirmed the work after construction crews began on the South Lawn, as part of his wider push to reshape the White House. He said the new landing area would allow officials to retire older helicopters used as Marine One and could also be used for other White House events.
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Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “It’s got the seal of the White House on it in granite, in carved granite. It’s really a beautiful thing.” He did not give a timeline for the work. The construction began on the South Lawn, where Trump had UFC build a temporary arena for a cage fight celebrating his 80th birthday.
Trump said Sikorsky Aircraft, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, would pay the full cost of the helipad. Asked about the cost and timeline, Lockheed Martin said in a statement that “this specific contribution was made to the Trust for the National Mall, the National Park Service’s non-profit organisation” and was “conducted in full accordance with all applicable laws and regulations”.
In 2024, Sikorsky completed a new fleet of helicopters for use as Marine One, and then-President Joe Biden took the first flight on a VH-92A helicopter while travelling to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Trump said the new aircraft were more powerful than the Vietnam War-era helicopters long used as Marine One and could not land on the White House lawn without damaging it. “It’s not that the grass gets discoloured – it gets ripped out,” he said.
The new helicopters have seen limited use at the White House because their exhaust vents direct heat downward, scorching the South Lawn. The Marines and Sikorsky have spent years trying to solve the problem, and a 2026 Marine Corps aviation plan said the older VH-3D helicopters would remain in service through the end of this year. Trump said he had told military generals that a White House helipad would solve the issue.
He said Sikorsky was building the helipad and paying the “full cost” because they “felt a little guilty” that the new fleet was too powerful to land at the White House. Trump also said he told builders to “do a beauty” and use granite instead of concrete. “You’re landing on granite, which is the strongest stone,” he said, adding that the completed helipad could also be used for outdoor White House press conferences. He said it would help “finally retire 45-year-old helicopters” used as Marine One.
The helipad is the latest in a series of construction projects Trump has overseen at the White House. These include tearing up part of the Rose Garden for a patio space similar to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, putting up partisan plaques for a Presidential Walk of Fame, redoing the bathroom attached to the Lincoln Bedroom, renovating the Palm Room, adding new flagpoles on the north and south lawns, and demolishing the East Wing for a ballroom.
Efforts to modernise presidential helicopters go back decades. The VH-3D Sea King, first used in 1978, became the best-known helicopter for presidential travel. President George W. Bush began a modernisation drive in the early 2000s, but the programme was later scrapped by Barack Obama’s administration because of cost overruns. Obama restarted it, but more technical problems followed before Sikorsky finally received the contract in May 2014 to build the VH-92A Patriot helicopters delivered in 2024.
Later on Monday, Trump spoke at a lunch in the Rose Garden patio space and described another White House project to restore the columns on the building’s north side. With scaffolding already up, he said, “We’ve taken about 150 years of paint off of the columns,” adding, “If you don’t strip the paint off, it gets worse and worse and worse.” Trump said, “A lot of love is being put into the White House. Because, frankly, it was treated very badly by a lot of presidents.” He did not say who would pay for the column work. Overall, Trump presented the helipad and other ongoing works as part of a broader effort to remake the White House while also addressing a long-running problem with the new presidential helicopters.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
