essential Faced with delays in delivery of the new Air Force One, Donald Trump would have just opted temporarily for a modified civilian Boeing 747. However, this rapid solution raises questions about the security of the American president.
Donald Trump does not want to wait any longer. Frustrated by the delays taken by Boeing for the delivery of the new Air Force One, the American president would have found a transitional solution. According to the Wall Street Journalthe company L3harris would have been commissioned by the White House to transform a 747-8 fitted into a VIP version by provisional presidential plane. The device was manufactured in 2012 and used by the Qatari government. The objective would be to be able to get on board before the end of the year. At the same time, Boeing would continue to develop the two replacement planes ordered.
During his first mandate, in 2018, the American president had, in fact, signed a contract of $ 3.9 billion with Boeing on two new presidential planes based on model 747-8. It must be said that the two Boeing 747-200s used today by Donald Trump, and called VC-25A, are getting closer to retirement age … Both came into service in 1990, the time of the George H. W. Bush administration, and require an increasingly important maintenance. The arrival of the new Air Force One, called VC-25B, therefore appears as an urgent necessity.
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Deliveries repulsed at 2027, or even 2035
Yes, but now, everything did not go as planned. Boeing has encountered problems linked to its suppliers, engineering and production, and the project has been late several years. These 747-8, originally built for the Russian airline Transaero but never delivered, require complex technical modifications. Air Force One must, in fact, be equipped with a military aircraft and secure and anti -aircraft communication systems to be able to serve as a flying command platform. And it takes time.
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While the delivery of the first copy was initially to take place in 2024, Donald Trump could, ultimately, never get on board. Officially, the device must be delivered in 2027, just in time for the current tenant of the White House to benefit. But the American economic daily reports that representatives of the American aircraft manufacturer are less affirmative. They would have recently suggested that the first delivery could intervene that on the horizon of 2035. Enough to irritate the American president who said last February: “I am not satisfied with Boeing, that takes them a lot of time, you know we gave this contract a long time.”
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An Air Force One Transitional which raises questions
The provisional presidential plane in which Donald Trump could therefore embark in the fall nevertheless arouses some questions, particularly in terms of security. The electrical air force One wiring is normally armored, there are added electronic counter-measures, or lures to deceive missiles.
But given the time allocated, this Air Force One Transitory is likely to be only a slightly militarized airliner. “We could do some painting work, upgrades of communications, but I think it would be difficult to go further within this period” said Andrew Hunter, the head of Air Force acquisitions under the Biden administration, at Wall Street Journal. The future will say if Donald Trump is satisfied.
