LONDON: Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, are intensely lobbying George Bush to buy AgustaWestland EH-101 helicopters for his new presidential fleet, the Guardian learnt.

Kevin Smith, chief executive of GKN, joint owners with Finmeccanica of AgustaWestland, said the two prime ministers were repeatedly marketing the helicopter in their face-to-face talks with the US president.

Industry sources said that the British government was “putting an enormous, unprecedented amount of effort” into getting a substantial order from the US, where the helicopter market is worth $7 billion over the next few years, according to Mr Smith.

The green and white Marine One fleet of Sikorski helicopters ferrying Mr Bush from Washington to Camp David is due to be replaced with 24 new craft, with a decision due early next year.

AgustaWestland has teamed up with US rival Bell under the leadership of defence company Lockheed Martin to compete against Sikorski and Boeing for the order.

Eurocopter, the world’s biggest manufacturer, broke ground on Thursday on a new plant in Columbus, Mississippi, to build para- public helicopters for agencies such as the coast guard and county sherriffs. It has kept out of the bidding for the fleet, convinced that only a US team will win.

But Mr Smith said: “This is our best shot for a long, long time to get a product into the US — and we’ve proved them wrong by breaking into the Japanese market, which had been closed for 50 years. You never know, you might just see the president climbing into a foreign helicopter. If he takes another route that’s not the end of the world for us. If we win it would be a major, major credibility reinforcement for us.”

GKN is aiming for orders worth $7 billion for 360 craft, including 196 search and rescue helicopters for the US air force worth up to $5 billion. The entire programme is worth more than $20 billion over its lifetime.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.