Air Force One
This case will surely go down in history as paradoxical: the tiny Middle Eastern emirate of Qatar offers the most powerful country in the world, the United States, an unusual gift worth $ 400 million. We are talking about a used luxury Boeing 747-8 "flying palace", which previously belonged to the ruling dynasty of Qatar and which will temporarily serve as the "No. 1 flight" of the US president.
Air Force One
The problem is that the main supplier of Air Force One presidential aircraft, the Boeing concern, has run out of time under the program to replace the fleet of obsolete government aircraft. The contract price is $4.8 billion. According to the representative of the US Air Force for procurement, Darlene Costello, the commissioning of new machines may take place no earlier than in two years, and taking into account the high requirements of the customer (the US government) — and even later, in 2029.
Air Force One
Having declared the goal of his presidency to "Make America great again," Donald Trump did not refuse such an expensive gift. However, there were some problems. Luxury alone is not enough to put into operation the "Board No. 1". The donated Boeing 747-8 needs to be equipped with several communication systems, including space, missile defense systems, electronics protected from electromagnetic pulse in case of an exchange of nuclear strikes, plus a medical compartment.
Air Force One
And now the most important thing. All these necessary procedures will require hundreds of millions of dollars and at least five years. By that time, Trump will have left office, and Boeing will finally completely upgrade its outdated fleet of Air Force One aircraft.
Alexander Ageev
