The White House is getting a permanent helipad installed on the South Lawn.
President Donald Trump confirmed to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that the White House is getting a granite helipad paid for 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 told Business Insider it was being made to the National Park Service.
Trump said the permanent fixture will help protect the South Lawn’s grass.
The newer helicopters from Sikorsky 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 discolored. It gets ripped out,” he said.
Trump told reporters that the helipad will bear the White House seal and that Sikorsky will pay for the project. The president said the helipad will 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 that 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.”
Spokespeople for Sikorsky and Lockheed did not say how much the project would cost or how long construction would take.
A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Recent photos show that the helipad is under construction.
Using the South Lawn as a landing area for transporting the commander in chief dates back to the Eisenhower administration, as helicopters provided a faster, easier mode of transport without the need for a motorcade.
In lieu of a traditional landing pad, Marine One typically lands on temporary landing plates or circular disks placed on the lawn.
Below are photos documenting the history of helicopter landings at the White House and the installation of the new helipad.
Aviation pioneer James Ray landed an autogyro, an aircraft with a spinning rotor on top, on the White House South Lawn for the first time in 1931.
Library of Congress/Interim Archives/Getty Images
In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first US president to use helicopter transport from the White House lawn.
Universal History Archive/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Helicopter transport for the US president to and from the White House South Lawn later became standard operating procedure for short-distance travel.
Bettmann/Bettmann Archive
Instead of a permanent helipad, White House personnel would place large landing disks on the South Lawn for Marine One helicopters.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
The South Lawn is no match for the new Sikorsky aircraft.
Craig Hudson/Reuters
Trump says construction of the presidential helipad is underway.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
The helipad is only one of the construction projects the White House is going through under Trump 2.0.
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
