President Elect Trump slams Boeing’s Air Force One deal

Before his inauguration, Donald Trump, the U.S. President Elect, is already creating waves over the current deal for Boeing to provide two new and modified 747s as Air Force One presidential jets. Boeing had set a budget of approximately US$3.2 billion to cover from 2010 through to 2020, US$2 billion of which was for research and development.
In 2015 the Undersecretary of Defense approved the plan to replace Air Force One with the new jets by 2024. In January and July this year, the Air Force signed deals with Boeing to design certain aspects of the new presidential aircraft, including the interior, electrical and power system, and maintenance systems. The two current Air Force One planes, VC-25s which are military versions of 747-200s, have been in service since 1990 when delivered to the then president, Ronal Reagan. Today the planes are described as “obsolete”.
On Tuesday of this week, President Elect Trump called for the cancellation of the deal with Boeing to develop new aircraft, citing different budget costs, but without providing any evidence. In a Tweet, he said: “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!” after which he told reporters at Trump Tower, “The plane is totally out of control. It’s going to be over $4 billion for Air Force One program and I think it’s ridiculous. I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money.”
According to Boeing, the current deal for Air Force one’s development is worth US$170 million, stating that “We look forward to working with the U.S. Air Force on subsequent phases of the program allowing us to deliver the best planes for the president at the best value for the American taxpayer.”
An Air Force spokesman has indicated that the military is preparing a statement on Trump’s outburst and why it believes the replacements are necessary. The Air Force had pledged to “keep costs down” when it awarded the initial development contract to Boeing in January, making it clear that the replacements were necessary. Col. Amy McCain, manager of the Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization program, said in a statement at that time: “Parts obsolescence, diminishing manufacturing sources and increased downtimes for maintenance are existing challenges that will increase until a new aircraft is fielded.”
According to Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at the Teal Group, anything in the US$3 billion to US$4 billion range would be reasonable, and a belief otherwise is “completely ignorant.” He then went on to say that “This is the wrong place to talk about cost control. People aren’t upset in Washington about a relatively small program being canceled. They’re upset we have a president who doesn’t understand what is needed to be president.”