The $6.1 billion contract to buy 23 high-tech, high-security aircraft, is relatively small in the military budget. But it is emblematic of two important issues: the outsourcing of American jobs and the question of how open the U.S. military market is to foreign contractors.

Maryland-based Lockheed and its European partners had waged a major public relations campaign, with the help of political leaders from England and Italy.

The decision was a blow to Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft, which has built the presidential fleet since 1957, and saw the contract to build Marine One as a point of pride.

"The US101 will provide the president of the United States with a state-of-the-art-helicopter ... an Oval Office in the sky," said Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York.

But Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, who was in her home state at the Sikorsky plant in Stratford, expressed disappointment.

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