By John C. Milliman, Presidential Helicopters Program PAO

NAVAIR Patuxent River, MD – NAVAIR’s most visible program of late, the Presidential Helicopters Program, will have a change of command ceremony 1:30 pm Thursday at Hangar 111 here.

Colonel Frank Mazur is turning over the program to Mr. Douglas Isleib and retiring from the Marine Corps after 24 years.

Charged with sustaining the President’s aging fleet of VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters, the program under Mazur’s leadership recently inked a $1.7 billion contract with Lockheed Martin Systems Integration of Owego, NY to develop the next generation Presidential helicopter, a specialized version of the Lockheed Martin US101 medium lift helicopter currently known as the VXX, as the President’s rotary wing command and control platform.

During a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for an $84.5 million support facility for the program here, Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer spoke to the challenges of developing the critically needed new capability for the President.

"Our principal challenge in aviation today is no longer how to make aircraft fly,” Hoyer said, “but how to integrate complex systems into a single envelope and make it all work together as a system. Our job is to be sure we continue the kind of investments in facilities and equipment to allow you to continue to be the best in the world at what you do.”

An experienced program manager himself, Isleib recently retired from the Marine Corps after a 26-year career.

A 1977 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a fleet AH-1 Sea Cobra and UH-1 Huey pilot, Isleib also served with Marine Helicopter Squadron One as a presidential helicopter commander for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. While with HMX-1, Isleib was also the first operational MV-22 pilot.

Most recently, the Berkeley Heights, New Jersey native served here as the deputy program manager of the MV-22 program and later as program manager for the KC-130J and H-1 programs.

Isleib and his wife, Cindy, live in Leonardtown. They have one adult son.

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