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

[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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