In Donald Trump’s first act as weapons buyer-in-chief, the incoming US president shocked industry by demanding the cancellation of the Air Force One replacement programme, citing “out of control” costs.
The tweeted message early on 6 December sent US Air Force and Boeing officials scrambling to respond to the unexpected attack by the president-elect more than six weeks before his inauguration.
The accuracy of Trump’s claim that two 747-8s modified into presidential transports will cost $4 billion is difficult to judge. Only $2.7 billion is budgeted in the USAF’s research and development accounts through fiscal year 2021, but that figure could be misleadingly low, as it is buying them through a series of annual funding instalments. As the replacements are not due to enter service until 2024, three more payments could be planned after 2021.
Also, the current value excludes other significant bills, such as plans to construct new hangars at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
In a television interview the same day, Trump suggested that Boeing might be “pulling a number” on the American taxpayer with the recapitalisation effort. He did not elaborate, but the notion that the presidential transport’s costs have spiralled upwards since the last such acquisition has some basis in fact.
The USAF last acquired a new fixed-wing aircraft for the presidential fleet in 1986. After a competition with the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, it awarded Boeing a $266 million, fixed-price contract to deliver two 747-200s modified into the Air Force One configuration, according to a New York Times article in 1990, citing figures supplied by the White House. The cost of spare parts, related equipment and a new hangar raised total government spending on the programme to $410 million: roughly $800 million when adjusted for inflation 30 years later.
Trump – who pledged on 7 December to work with Boeing to “negotiate prices” – is not the first to open his administration by attacking a development programme intended to support the White House. In February 2009, President Barack Obama criticised the Lockheed Martin/AgustaWestland VH-71 Kestrel as an example of the Pentagon’s acquisition system “gone amuck”.
Making a direct comparison between Trump’s and Obama’s frustrations may be unfair. The AW101-based VH-71 had already endured multiple cost overruns and delays, while the Air Force One replacement has had no delays or technical setbacks reported in two years.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
