![]() These cookies collect information for analytics and to ![]() Sale of your personal information to third parties. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the ![]() President Trump has been critical of the cost of two new Air Force One planes, at one point threatening to cancel the order if the price was not lowered. The work is expected to be finished in October 2019. “The engineering required to design, manufacture, conduct environmental testing and obtain Federal Aviation Administration certification are included in the cost.” Many of the contractors that work on the presidential jet also must maintain high-level security clearances.Įven though the new new refrigerators use “available industry technology,” they must be customized to carry 70 cubic feet of refrigerated storage, Stefanek said when asked why the refrigerators cost so much. Related: Pentagon Wants to Get Started on New Air Force Two and Doomsday PlanesĪboulafia said the refrigerators, and many other items on the aircraft, are so expensive because they are they are unique to Air Force One and not used on commercial or business jets. Related: Searching for $1 Billion: Inside the Pentagon’s Struggle to Match Trump’s Air Force One Boast So the USAF Is Buying a Bankrupt Russian Firm’s Undelivered 747s Related: Trump Wanted a Cheaper Air Force One. “The units are unable to effectively support mission requirements for food storage.” “Although serviced on a regular basis, reliability has decreased with failures increasing, especially in hot/humid environments,” Air Force spokesman Ann Stefanek said in an email. The refrigerators on the plane date to 1990, when the Air Force received the customized 747 from Boeing. Boeing declined to comment on the deal, referring all questions to the Air Force. In December, the Air Force awarded Boeing a $23.7 million contract to replace two of the chillers, which cool eight compartments. Five “chillers” cool a total of 26 climate-controlled compartments, according to the Air Force. That means storing about 3,000 meals in massive refrigerators and freezers below the passenger cabin. The requirement for Air Force One is the ability to feed passengers and crew for weeks without resupplying. The new refrigerators aren’t your kitchen Frigidaires, or even a typical jetliner’s cabin-feeding coolboxes. “It’s not a contractor issue, it is a requirements issue,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at the Teal Group consulting firm. Experts say the reason isn’t price gouging by Boeing, which makes the jets and handles the presidential modifications, but instead the result of bespoke equipment requirements put in place by the White House Military Office and the Air Force. Their high cost is the latest example of just how expensive it is to build the heavily modified 747 jumbo jets that fly the president of the United States. Air Force One needs new refrigerators, an upgrade that will cost taxpayers nearly $24 million.
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