the air force spokesman says the costs of a new air force one can be reduced....
Posted by
x (aka dmuck)
Dec 6 '16, 12:45
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“Air Force One, although it is a 747 platform, is way, way more than what you would think of as a commercial airliner,” she told Politico on Tuesday. "It really is, in many ways, a flying White House, in terms of the security.
“There’s [electronics] countermeasures built in, communications, very high-level communications, security of all types,” James added. "After all, this is carrying the president of the United States.
“It has to go long distances, it has to survive under difficult circumstances, much more difficult than a normal civilian airliner. So it is a bit more complicated than perhaps meets the eye.”
James also said that although the Air Force oversees the program, the White House dictates aircraft standards.
“There are professional security people who are in the White House who develop requirements for Air Force One,” she said. "They are not political appointees; they are professional security people.
“Those requirements then come to the Air Force and our job is to build the acquisition strategy around it to deliver those requirements. In other words, we didn’t make up all these security factors and communications standards.”
James said the project’s cost could be reduced at the expense of valuable communications and safety standards.
“Yes, if you change the requirements,” she said of shrinking the price tag. "If you have lesser communications requirements, if you have lesser countermeasures, if you have lesser any of these factors.”
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