Congressman Maurice Hinchey has urged the Department of Defense to reject a potential bid for the presidential helicopter program from China’s state-run China Aviation Industry Corporation.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that AVIC may offer its AC-313 helicopter for use in the next Marine One fleet.
Hinchey said the President of the United States of America should not be flying around in a helicopter that is made in China.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Hinchey argued that accepting such a bid would risk putting sensitive intelligence information into the wrong hands.
He added it was a $4 billion mistake to cancel the presidential helicopter program in the first place, but putting a state-run Chinese company in the running for the new project would be a slap in the face to American workers.
