Trump opens new White House helipad

US President Donald Trump on Monday inaugurated a newly built helipad on the White House South Lawn, taking off aboard Marine One for the facility’s first official flight following a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Trump had previously said the White House would receive the granite helipad, funded by Sikorsky Aircraft, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, to support the new fleet of helicopters used as Marine One.

A Lockheed Martin spokesperson confirmed the contribution and said it was being made to the National Park Service.
Trump had also said the permanent fixture would help protect the South Lawn’s grass.

The newer Sikorsky helicopters are about ‘two and a half times more powerful than the old ones’, Trump said.
‘When you land on the grass, it’s not that the grass gets discoloured. It gets ripped out,’ he said.

The helipad bears the White House seal and cost between $5 million and $6 million.
‘Sikorsky is paying for it. You know why? Because they didn’t tell us how powerful these helicopters were,’ Trump said. ‘And they felt a little bit guilty.’
A Sikorsky spokesperson said the new model for presidential transport, the VH-92A Patriot, delivers ‘increased performance and reduced maintenance costs and time over the current fleet of presidential helicopters.’

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Photos have shown the helipad being built amid other massive construction projects the administration is undertaking to transform the White House in line with Trump’s vision.

The helipad faced at least one setback when Trump ordered contractors to redo portions of the work, resulting in crews having to dismantle the nearly 100-foot-wide granite seal that was already in progress.

During construction, Marine One relied on the Ellipse, the park south of the White House, as its landing zone.