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[Text/Observer.com Wang Shichun] The helicopter bought during the Trump era was used by Biden in the last three months of his term. According to the U.S. Defense News website on August 19, after years of delay, Biden took the VH-92A presidential helicopter for the first time on August 19 to Chicago to attend the Democratic Convention. This presidential plane has a famous name, "Marine One."

Prior to this, the US Marine Corps finally received 23 VH-92A helicopters last week. These helicopters will replace the old VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters to perform the mission of transporting the US president.

Biden took the VH-92A presidential helicopter for the first time on August 19 to attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago

Biden boarded a helicopter after arriving in Chicago on Air Force One. He will deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on the evening of the 19th. This is his first time to take a special plane from Washington O'Hare International Airport to Chicago Soldier Field, which is usually used as a helicopter landing area for presidential travel.

According to photos released by the White House, the VH-92A bears the same iconic dark green and white paint scheme as past Marine One helicopters, and like the old helicopters has the nickname "White Top."

"The delivery of the new helicopter marks a new important milestone and a new chapter in the Marine Corps' rich 67-year history of providing helicopter transport services to the President of the United States," Lt. Gen. Bradford Green, deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for aviation, said in a statement. "The VH-92A Patriot brings a new level of capability to this never-failing mission, providing new support to the Commander in Chief."

The flight was a milestone for the White House's fleet of Marine Corps helicopters, marking the end of the Vietnam-era presidential planes replaced by 21st-century presidential aircraft.

The initial effort to buy new helicopters was initiated by the Bush administration to improve emergency communications and mission capabilities in the post-September 11, 2001 environment, when Lockheed Martin won the contract to build the next-generation presidential helicopter in a 2005 competition, beating out then-rival Sikorsky.

However, due to serious cost overruns, which rapidly expanded from $6.5 billion in 2005 to $13 billion in 2008, the plan was canceled during the Obama administration. However, due to the aging of the White House VH-3D and VH-60N helicopter fleets, the US military restarted the plan for the new-era presidential aircraft at the end of the Obama administration.

Sikorsky was awarded a $1.2 billion contract in 2014 to build a presidential fleet of six helicopters, and then decided to develop a suitable general-purpose helicopter based on the S-92 helicopter to replace the current White House government fleet.

As of 2016, the U.S. presidential fleet currently has 11 VH-3Ds, 8 VH-60Ns, 1 UH-3D, 1 UH-60N and 12 MV-22B Ospreys. After Sikorsky won the contract, the U.S. Navy decided to purchase 23 VH-92As, two of which were prototypes, and the remaining 21 were used to replace all the rotorcraft in the current presidential fleet.

Although this helicopter was approved by the Obama administration, the relevant procurement contract was not signed until the Trump era. In 2018, the VH-92A helicopter named "Patriot" made its debut at the White House. However, there have been various problems with the aircraft's secure communication system, and the CT7-8A6 turboshaft engine and its auxiliary power unit would burn the White House lawn. These problems were not resolved in the following years. In the end, the next generation of the US presidential plane "survived" the two presidencies of Obama and Trump, and it was not until the end of Biden's term that it was cheaper for Biden.

This article is an exclusive article of Observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.