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Politico: Trump: Cancel Boeing’s Air Force One contract
Just to be clear, as Boing stated after Trump's charge:
"We are currently under contract for $170 million to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the President of the United States. "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."
Politico reports: "The Pentagon announced the deal with Boeing last January, awarding an initial contract worth nearly $26 million for initial research for the new planes, according to Reuters. The Defense Department awarded an additional $127.3 million contract in July to develop interior, power and electronic specifications for the next-generation aircraft, according to FlightGlobal, a publication that covers the aviation industry.
"The Air Force said previously that it had earmarked $1.65 billion for two new presidential aircraft, which will be four-engine Boeing 747-8s. The source of Trump's $4 billion cost estimate for the program was not immediately clear, although a Government Accountability Office report from last March priced it at roughly $3.2 billion."
This is nothing more than grandstanding by Trump and the media have followed his lead. There is no $4 billion contract, there is no $1.65 billion contract...only two Boing contracts worth $170 million to do design research into building two custom made airliners to the Air Force's specifications. We don't know how much these two planes will cost. The $4 billion probably includes maintenance over the lives of the planes.
Who knows what the hell he is thinking. Maybe he'll cancel the $170 million contract and open up bidding to international companies like Airbus or Russia's United Aircraft Corporation. I'm sure Russia will be glad to build the two aircraft much cheaper. That's the businessman's approach.
Maybe that's what this is all about.