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A fleet of U.S. presidential helicopters bought by Canada seven years ago will be stripped down for parts by the Canadian military to keep its search and rescue choppers flying.

The Royal Canadian Air Force had studied the option of adding the seven helicopters, which are airworthy, to the current CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue fleet. The air force was told by the aerospace industry that modifications could be made to the American presidential fleet, aircraft from the same family of helicopters as the Cormorants, so they could be added to the flight line.

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But that plan was shelved and last month the Liberal government announced that Canada would modernize the 14 existing CH-149 Cormorant helicopters and acquire at least two more such aircraft.

That decision means that the U.S. VH-71 presidential helicopters, bought by Canada in 2012 and put in storage, won’t fly in Canadian military colours. Instead, they will be stripped down for parts, although some of those systems could form a significant portion in the CH-149 modernization program.