First Flight Scheduled for New Presidential Helo

The Marine Corps plans to conduct a test flight of the next-generation presidential support helicopter sometime next year. The platform will be Sikorsky’s S-92. Col., Robert Pridgen, who manages the Marine Corps Presidential Helicopter Programs, told an audience at the Navy League of the United States Sea-Air-Space conference in Oxon Hill, Md., that the program is progressing ahead of schedule. The Marine Corps expects to take delivery of the first operational VH-92A presidential helicopters in 2018. More than 250 versions of the helicopter now serve around the world, Pridgen said.