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Trump opened a new granite helipad at the White House. Sikorsky paid for it, not taxpayers.

Trump Opens the White House’s New Granite Helipad, and Sikorsky Picked Up the Tab

by
M.A. Rothman

By M.A. RothmanSeptember 21, 2026 · 5 min read
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President Trump cut the ribbon on a new permanent granite helipad on the White House South Lawn on Monday, September 21, 2026, then climbed aboard Marine One and flew off it to begin his trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The project, which Trump has estimated at $5 million to $6 million, was paid for by Sikorsky Aircraft, the Lockheed Martin subsidiary that builds the presidential helicopter fleet, not by taxpayers.

It is a small story about a slab of stone. It is also a tidy example of a problem Washington talked about for years and never fixed, until someone decided to fix it.

The ceremony

According to the White House pool report, Trump walked out of the White House at 1:46 p.m. to a red, white and blue ribbon strung along the path to the new pad. Construction workers and military officials lined the walkway. Holding a pair of oversized gold scissors, Trump spoke with two men in suits and two men in high-visibility construction vests, then cut the ribbon at 1:48 p.m. to applause. Some of the crews working on the East Wing construction site stopped to watch.

He boarded Marine One at 1:50 p.m. and, according to the travel pool, landed at Joint Base Andrews at 2:06 p.m., on the first presidential departure from the new pad.

Trump marked the moment on Truth Social. “We are just leaving the White House Lawn on the maiden voyage from the newly built, and very beautiful, Heliport,” he wrote, as quoted by Just the News. “I want to thank Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, who made this valuable contribution to our country. Our government has been thinking about doing this for 25 years, but was never able to get it done.” He added: “Most importantly, thank you to the Great Construction Workers and Stone Masons of the Washington, D.C., area, who created something very special, and to Clark Construction for its wonderful supervisory work.”

Why the White House needed a helipad at all

The reason is practical, not vanity. In 2024, Sikorsky finished delivering a new fleet of 23 VH-92A Patriot helicopters to serve as Marine One. But the new aircraft vent their exhaust heat downward, and when they land on the South Lawn they scorch the grass. As a result, the Associated Press reported, the new helicopters have seen limited service and have not been used at the White House, while the aging VH-3D Sea Kings, first fielded in 1978, kept flying the South Lawn mission. A 2026 Marine Corps aviation plan said the older VH-3Ds would stay in service through the end of this year.

“It’s not that the grass gets discolored — it gets ripped out,” Trump told reporters in July, when he confirmed the project. A hard surface solves the problem and lets the government, in Trump’s words, “finally retire 45-year-old helicopters.”

Trump said he asked the builders to “do a beauty” and to use granite rather than painted concrete. “It’s got the seal of the White House on it in granite, in carved granite,” he said in the Oval Office. “You’re landing on granite, which is the strongest stone.” He also suggested the pad could double as a venue for outdoor events such as press conferences.

Who paid

When Trump announced the project in July, he was explicit about the bill. “It’s about $5 or $6 million. They’re paying the full cost,” he said of Sikorsky, according to ABC News. He told reporters the company felt a little guilty that its new helicopters were too powerful to land on the lawn.

Lockheed Martin confirmed the gift. In a statement quoted by the AP, the company said “This specific contribution was made to the Trust for the National Mall, the National Park Service’s non-profit organization” and was “conducted in full accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.” A Lockheed spokesperson told ABC News the company’s “engagement with the federal government is guided by rigorous ethics and compliance standards.”

Critics have noted that some of Trump’s White House construction projects have drawn on public money, and that a defense contractor paying for presidential infrastructure is worth watching. Those are fair questions to keep asking. But on this project, the company and the president have both said the same thing on the record: the manufacturer whose aircraft created the problem paid to solve it.

The press corps that stayed home

The day’s other story was who was not there to record it. The White House had barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico the previous Friday, and on Monday the five networks that share television pool duties, Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, suspended pooled coverage of the president. “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,” they said in a joint statement. CNN, MS NOW and Politico said they were suing in federal court in Washington.

The practical effect was visible within hours. With no network pool microphones near the president, the ribbon-cutting was carried only on the White House’s own feed, and his remarks were largely drowned out by the helicopter. The print pool report from the South Lawn put it simply: “Your pooler couldn’t hear what he said over the sound of the helicopter.” The travel pooler warned that there would be no TV pool for the entire trip.

So the networks that insist the public has a vital interest in seeing its president chose not to point a camera at a privately funded upgrade to the people’s house, built by local construction workers and stonemasons, on the day it opened.

American workers built it, an American company paid for it, and the networks that claim to defend the public’s right to know decided the public didn’t need to see it.

Sources

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