reddogblitz Posted Sunday at 10:33 PM Posted Sunday at 10:33 PM 10 hours ago, Doc said: I keep hearing this. From where is this coming? Is this just a number someone threw out there and it became the "truth," like Vance having sex with a couch? Quote Turning the 747 into the plane reserved for use by America's leader, essentially a flying White House, could cost about $1 billion and take up to three years, an analyst said. “If this goes ahead, what we’re looking at is a fit-out cost somewhere between $800 million and $1.2 billion to bring the Qatari royal family’s 747 up to the level of Air Force One,” Dean Mikkelsen, an independent security, aviation, maritime and energy analyst, told The National. That includes stripping out the gold-plated luxury interiors and replacing them with a secure communications systems, EMP shielding, missile defence, and even aerial refuelling capability. https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/aviation/2025/05/15/qatar-air-force-one-747-retrofit/ Quote Converting a Qatari-owned 747 jet into a new Air Force One for President Donald Trump would involve installing multiple top-secret systems, cost over $1 billion and take years to complete, three aviation experts told NBC News. They said that accepting the 13-year-old jet would likely cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over time, noting that refurbishing the commercial plane would exceed its current value of $400 million. The project might also not be completed by the end of Trump’s term in 2028. Richard Aboulafia, an analyst and consultant on commercial and military aviation, said he thought turning the Qatari jetliner into Air Force One would cost billions and take years. “You’re taking a 747, disassembling it, reassembling it, and then jacking it up to a very high level,” said Aboulafia, a managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, a consulting firm. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/turning-qatari-747-into-air-force-one-could-cost-1-billion-and-take-years-experts-say/ar-AA1EItok Quote “It’s all based on an embarrassing misunderstanding of what Air Force One is meant to do,” Aboulafia said. “If it’s a gold-plated palace in the sky and noth HSuch airplanes have been upgraded with capabilities including secure communications systems, military-grade power systems and classified self-defense systems to protect the president against a hostile attack, as well as a medical facility. Air Force One aircraft have “one of the most exquisite comms suites on the planet,” said Doug Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “It functions as a command and control center under some of the most trying conditions [imaginable]. Even just day-to-day, that thing is hyper connected.” Past Air Force Ones have also been built with redundancies to ensure critical systems can continue operating if something fails, Aboulafia said, as well as survive and keep operating during a nuclear war. “If [Trump] wants all the capabilities and features of Air Force One, this would be a step backwards,” Aboulafia said. “They’d have to start over again with what they’ve been working on with the other 747-8” under the VC-25B program. Upgrading a 747 from scratch with those capabilities could take into the 2030s, Aboulafia said, and cost “billions and billions” of dollars. “Even the ability to manage and communicate with military forces all over the globe with encrypted comms — that’s a tremendously expensive undertaking,” Aboulafia said. “It is underway in the other 747-8s [slated for the VC-25B program], has been for years. Starting over again with the same plane would take a lot longer.” https://www.defensenews.com/air/2025/05/12/experts-qatar-gifted-air-force-one-may-be-security-upgrade-disaster/ And then add in the cost to remove all this stuff before it is put into the fantastic greatest library in the history of the world. As we used to say,nothing in life is free.
CoudyBills Posted yesterday at 03:18 AM Posted yesterday at 03:18 AM On 5/11/2025 at 4:35 PM, Homelander said: If the Dems take back power in the midterms, don’t act shocked when Trump gets impeached again. The guy collects impeachments like felony charges and let’s be real, he’s earned every damn one. You seem bitter. Perhaps a civil war could solve the country's differences.
sherpa Posted yesterday at 08:21 AM Posted yesterday at 08:21 AM Just a side note, because it was mentioned in a link above as an expense, there is no reason to have air to air refueling capability on AF1, and it is extremely expensive. The Boeing project underway does not include it. AF1 has never "tanked" with the president aboard. The spare has, but without the pres.
All_Pro_Bills Posted 20 hours ago Posted 20 hours ago (edited) If Trump can't take the plane I might be interested in a "free" 747 but after measuring my garage I'm not sure its going to fit. Edited 20 hours ago by All_Pro_Bills 1
f0neguy Posted 11 hours ago Posted 11 hours ago Question that probably has no answer. When the WH ordered two new Air Force 1s a few years ago, why didn’t Boeing put those two planes at the front of the line? I’m guessing the USA is one of their larger customers. If they’re still 4-5 years away (estimated) that makes no sense.
sherpa Posted 10 hours ago Posted 10 hours ago 12 minutes ago, f0neguy said: Question that probably has no answer. When the WH ordered two new Air Force 1s a few years ago, why didn’t Boeing put those two planes at the front of the line? I’m guessing the USA is one of their larger customers. If they’re still 4-5 years away (estimated) that makes no sense. Because the gov probably told Boeing when they wanted them completed, based on the current two 747's used as AF1.
Doc Posted 10 hours ago Posted 10 hours ago 13 hours ago, sherpa said: Just a side note, because it was mentioned in a link above as an expense, there is no reason to have air to air refueling capability on AF1, and it is extremely expensive. The Boeing project underway does not include it. AF1 has never "tanked" with the president aboard. The spare has, but without the pres. So what's your best guess as to what it will cost to make this Qatar gift 747 usable?
sherpa Posted 10 hours ago Posted 10 hours ago 5 minutes ago, Doc said: So what's your best guess as to what it will cost to make this Qatar gift 747 usable? That is way above my knowledge level. The encrypted communication suite as well as the passive defensive stuff that AF1 requires would be the major issue, and I have no idea re expenses. De-bugging it would be relatively simple, but an additional expense. Either way, they don't need to build in air to air refueling. that's a simple waste we've never used nor needed.
reddogblitz Posted 9 hours ago Posted 9 hours ago 34 minutes ago, sherpa said: Either way, they don't need to build in air to air refueling. that's a simple waste we've never used nor needed. I believe the thinking is in case of a nuclear attack or some other catastrophic event they can put the Prez and his team on it and fly it around indefinitely until it's safe to land. Obviously if the can't refuel in the air they would have to land to refuel.
Homelander Posted 5 hours ago Author Posted 5 hours ago On 5/18/2025 at 3:47 AM, reddogblitz said: President Trump is on a roll with these tweets first with the no talent Bruce Springsteen with bad skin and now this. Is Eddie getting the 1 am tweet treatment too?
Big Blitz Posted 4 hours ago Posted 4 hours ago 8 minutes ago, Homelander said: Get a life loser. Stop bumping this crap. No one cares. We know what you’re doing and it’s embarrassing. Everyone else has blocked you. Which is the only reason I’m responding and telling you to stop embarrassing yourself. You aren’t controlling the news cycle on a political forum with your panic bumps. 1
4th&long Posted 2 hours ago Posted 2 hours ago 1 hour ago, Big Blitz said: Get a life loser. Stop bumping this crap. No one cares. We know what you’re doing and it’s embarrassing. Everyone else has blocked you. Which is the only reason I’m responding and telling you to stop embarrassing yourself. You aren’t controlling the news cycle on a political forum with your panic bumps. Ha ha ha what an #######. People care very much. If you don't like it stay out of the thread baby. You don't like Trump taking a bribe? It's not going to go away if no one posts about it. You need to grow some balls or take a break.
sherpa Posted 22 minutes ago Posted 22 minutes ago 9 hours ago, reddogblitz said: I believe the thinking is in case of a nuclear attack or some other catastrophic event they can put the Prez and his team on it and fly it around indefinitely until it's safe to land. Obviously if the can't refuel in the air they would have to land to refuel. That was the reasoning, but it is so unrealistic that when combined with the normal range of a 747, it isn't worth the expense. Not that the scenario has occurred, but they've never tanked with the ores aboard. They have tanked the spare on some trips though.
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