[Pentagon Leatherneck]

Maybe it is just clever negotiation. But the fact is that in both the AF One and a related program trying to replace Marine One programs, there has been so much gilding the lily that you one could 3-D print the small fleet out of gold for less money. I lay these gold-plated requirements squarely at the feet of the White House. To always ensure that rhe executive plane and helicopter both have the same comes capability plus survivability and top-drawer reliability and availability is unimaginably expensive, made more so by very bad business practices and fake urgency over the last decade.

TC

[MNJohnnie]

Yeah that was my gut reaction too. Too much gild on this lily.

This is all part of the “Imperial Presidency” that has been created over the last 40 years. I think the “New Airforce 1” was heard as “the ultimate gilded lily.

Contrast the price tag of a B2, which is designed to penetrate hostile air space and precision strike targets and the USA’s new “AF1”. Hell these new AF1s cost 2/3s the price of an Aircraft carrier!

Does the President of the USA really need a flying luxury liner?

[semimojo]

I lay these gold-plated requirements squarely at the feet of the White House. To always ensure that rhe executive plane and helicopter both have the same comes capability plus survivability and top-drawer reliability and availability is unimaginably expensive, made more so by very bad business practices and fake urgency over the last decade.

Exactly.

People want to make Boeing the villain but they're only responding to the specs given to them by the Air Force.

Trump's negotiation isn't going to be with Boeing, it's going to be with his own military.