Showing Its Age
According to a Live Science report, both planes that are currently called signed as Air Force One are actually very highly customized Boeing 747-200B jets. The currently two planes were purchases under Ronald Reagan’s administration. However, they didn’t actually go into service until much later, in 1990, under the then-president George H.W. Bush’s administration. Since the jets were commissioned Boeing has shut down all production on its 747-200 style of the jet. As a result, it has made finding replacement parts for the plane a very arduous task. In some cases, spare parts have had to be kulled from jetliners that are parked in the desert.
Image: Popular Mechanics
In With The New
With the increasing problems with finding adequate parts to serve and maintain Air Force One properly, it was decided a new set of planes were needed. With that in mind, during Barack Obama’s term of office, an order was placed for two replacements for the Air Force One fleet. The new versions were to built based on the new Boeing 747-8 series. A newer, better version than the previous styles. It has been estimated that both planes are looking to run at least $3 billion dollars, and are not expected to even come into service until well into 2024.
Image: defpost
Top Of The Line Fridges
Americans were shocked to learn this little tidbit of information recently. It was reported that Air Force One was in need of new refrigerators. Oh, but not just any refrigerators—but ones that cost a whopping twelve million dollars—each. With the needed replacements, Boeing was awarded the contract to do the actual engineering of the fridges. The reason stated for the need for such costly equipment is simply that Air Force One has to have the ability to feed passengers, and crew, for weeks on end without having to resupply. This means each fridge has to be able to store up to three thousand meals at any given time.
Image: Zero Hedge