Mr. Trump: Heres Why You Really Want to Spend $4 Billion on Air Force One - Wired

[Bill USA]

.. as usual, the King of Clowns blurted out a reaction without researching the subject at all.


https://www.wired.com/2016/12/mr-trump-heres-really-want-spend-4-billion-air-force-one/

Boeing’s current contract to provide the next generation of the presidential plane is for $170 million, but the Air Force plans to ask the Seattle giant to heavily modify the two 747-8 jets it has on order. The current budget for the Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization program puts the price tag at $2.9 billion—a shocking figure, since Boeing lists the standard 747-8 for $357 million. And that only takes the program to 2021, the standard ‘five years out’. The planes aren’t due to enter service until 2023 or 2024, so costs will rise.

“The $4 billion figure looks reasonable,” says Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who previously oversaw Department of Defense acquisitions at the White House Office of Management and Budget. OK, “reasonable” may not seem right to anyone unfamiliar with American military budgets, but that doesn’t mean Trump’s right to say “costs are out of control.”

“Given the extraordinary capabilities that they want in this aircraft, that’s not an unreasonable cost for two,” Cancian says.

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That means packing these planes with electrical upgrades, with backup power units, secure communications systems, and military spec flight and navigation controls. For the two 747-200s the president uses now, that means multi-frequency radios capable of air-to-air, air-to-ground, and satellite communications. It takes years of serious spending to develop and integrate all that into a new plane (the 747-8 entered service in 2011). Especially since you’ve got to harden every bit of it to shrug off the electromagnetic waves that can result from nuclear explosions and tend to fry electronics.
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[madaboutharry]

1. We are going to have a president

who has no critical thinking skills and "shoots from the hip" without getting the facts. He has no impulse control. He is a man who doesn't know what he doesn't know and believes that "his very good brain" gives him all the right answers.

The next four years are going to be terrible.

[spanone]

3. i think that's a perfect assessment of him. 👍🏼

[Ilsa]

2. I don't think this was about dt wanting to save money.

This was Don the Con threatening economic consequences to a CEO who had the nerve to publicly criticize dt's policies. This is about letting others know that DT now has the power to ruin anyone who stands up to him.

[RonniePudding]

4. I hope he sticks with his 757

It seems like that's what he wants. Nobody needs all those gizmos on the military variant of the 747.

[MrsMatt]

5. I suspect that he'll insist

on using his own planes and bill the government for leasing them.

[FarCenter]

6. The 747 is at end of production life -- only a couple dozen orders and mostly freighters.

It was introduced in '68, almost half a century ago.

At least go with a pair of 777s. By now a lot of the communications gear should be a lot lighter and smaller than previously. Four engines are not needed, since we now have decades of ETOP experience with the twins.

[yallerdawg]

7. Yeah, this reminds me of the $600 hammers.

The rest of the story we never heard much about was the government was hiding the money they spent on secret programs to keep us safe so our enemies had no idea what we were doing based on how much money we spent.

On the other hand, Corrupt Trump knows more than the Generals, so...we'll probably be in that dystopian future sooner than we thought possible.