Double Vision

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates testified yesterday before the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, he suggested the troubled, terminated VH-71 presidential helicopter might be succeeded by two different types of aircraft -- one helicopter to fly the president short distances and another, more-robust “escape” aircraft for use in an emergency.

"So one is idea is that you look at two different helicopters -- that you look at one that the president basically uses here in town to go to Andrews and on regular trips here in the United States and things like that, and an escape helicopter that has different kinds of capabilities and that could perhaps be a modified kind of helicopter that we use now in combat," Gates said.

"So we're going to be looking at a lot of different ideas on how we can get this program back on track, get a -- help the presidential helicopter program back into the budget and get the president and his successors helicopters within a reasonable period of time," he added.