The current two planes used to transport the President of the United States of America ARE tired…
They have been flying US President’s and Co. for over 30 years…..
Donald Trump and his buddy Elon Musk are impatient for a new jet…And Musk says he CAN get things moving….
THAT is VERY unlikely to happen for YEARS no matter what….
Oh?
Trump will have to stick with current paint colors…
The one’s he wanted won’t work on the plane….
President Trump, furious about delays in delivering two new Air Force One jets, has empowered Elon Musk to explore drastic options to prod Boeing to move faster, including relaxing security clearance standards for some who work on the presidential planes.
His administration has even discussed whether a luxury jet could be acquired and refitted during the wait, according to five people with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe closely held deliberations.
Mr. Musk, whom Mr. Trump has tapped to slash the federal government, has been central to the discussions — consulting with the military, the White House and Boeing, the people said.
Mr. Trump regards Boeing as almost a lost cause, according to people close to him. He often laments how far the company has fallen, wondering aloud what happened to the jet maker and why it seems incapable of building things anymore.
The two heavily modified Boeing 747s currently used interchangeably to fly the president are more than 30 years old and require extensive servicing. Mr. Trump views Air Force One as a symbol of power and prestige, and he is infuriated that he begins his second term flying around in the same aging planes that once transported President George H.W. Bush.
His public comments took on a more ominous tone in an interview broadcast Tuesday night on Fox News’s “Hannity.” Seated beside Mr. Musk, the president excoriated the company, saying, “I mean, they are actually in default, Boeing,” before adding: “They’ve been building this thing forever. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Mr. Trump, in a pointed demonstration about his willingness to explore other options, took time on Saturday to kick the tires on a luxury jet sitting at Palm Beach International Airport. Photographers spotted the tail number of the late model 747-8, which revealed the plane to have been owned, at least until recently, by the Qatari royal family, according to registration data
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Boeing’s executives have indicated to the government that they might not be able to deliver the new Air Force Ones until the end of Mr. Trump’s second term. But Mr. Musk, who is known for setting aggressive — in some cases unachievable — deadlines at his companies, has insisted that at least one of the planes can be delivered within a year’s time.
Officials involved in the project — a complicated feat of engineering that requires the plane to be capable of evading certain missile attacks or surviving the fallout from a nuclear blast — regard Mr. Musk’s timeline as unrealistic….
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Some current and former Pentagon officials are concerned that Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Musk’s press for speed might compromise the safety requirements for a vital national security asset…
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Mr. Trump is hardly the first federal official to express frustration with Boeing’s handling of the Air Force One contract, as there have been a series of snafus and delays since the company was first selected for the job a decade ago. Mr. Kendall said he was so exasperated with Boeing that he considered canceling the contract.
When asked if cancellation was legally possible, Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman, said, “Every contract has an option for cancellation.”…
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The Air Force One project is considered a debacle inside Boeing, a company already reeling from a cascade of other disasters. Boeing has endured six consecutive years of losses, crashes that killed hundreds of passengers and a strike that added to what were already serious production delays.
The company has battled multiple public relations disasters on the Air Force One project, such as when company officials discovered that security clearances had lapsed for many of their workers and when empty tequila bottles were found on one of the planes under development. The coronavirus pandemic made it more difficult to find suitable workers, and the project was delayed further when one of Boeing’s key suppliers for the airplanes’ interiors fell behind schedule, resulting in a lawsuit.
Tiny cracks in the structures of the two planes also had to be repaired, again delaying the job, even though the planes provided by Boeing had never been used for commercial flights. This is a flaw often found in the 747-8 model, according to the F.A.A.…
image of the Boeing 747-8 that woulkd be the NEW Air Force One if and when it ever is made operational…US Air Force
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