President Donald Trump, frustrated by the slow pace of Boeing when completing two new 747s to serve as Air Force, has ordered Elon Musk to find a way to accelerate their delivery.
The options include relaxing standards for the permission of security for those working on building the presidential planes.
Musk was also able to scales military communication and defenses on the plane to speed up the production process.
He could even buy a luxury jet and rest as a presidential plane, the New York Times reported.
'We have been busy with Elon' about how to deliver the plane earlier, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told CNBC last month.
“The president wants those planes earlier, so we work with Elon to see what we can do to increase the schedule of those programs,” he said.
In his first term, Trump signed a contract for two new 747s to serve as presidential aircraft.
The original timeline had planned them to be delivered in 2024. But the project is at least three years behind schedule and runs $ 2.7 billion on budget.
The new presidential aircraft are now planned to be delivered at the end of 2028 or early 2029. Trump may not be allowed at all.
President Donald Trump speaks earlier this month with reporters on Joint Base Andrews with Air Force One behind him
The president has publicly pronounced his frustration about the days.
“They built this thing forever. I don't know what's going on, “he told Fox News” Sean Hannity this week by Boeing.
The new aircraft have always been a Top -Trump priority and he loves them -together with the attributes of the state they represent.
He uses them for Viadoppen at events that he attends on Sunday, such as the Daytona 500.
During the 2020 campaign, the distinctive blue and white jet was the background at his campaign reports at airports.
Trump had the plane land and then stopped to a pendant, Hollywood style, who delighted his Maga fans, who shouted and cheered as if Trump was their favorite rock star.
There are always two 747s that can serve as Air Force One – the name used when a president is on board. One as primary and the other as a backup.
Trump has bragged about how he negotiated a contract with Boeing in his first term, which the company cost billions in the midst of production problems and delays.
Trump held a model of the new Air Force One Design – with the dark red, blue and white colors comparable to his Trump Force One – on a table in the Oval Office and on his desk in Mar -A -Lago after leaving it White house.
He also had a cake in the form of the plane at one of his inaugural balls – which he cut with a sword.
The president sent Musk to solve the delay problem and tell employees whether Musk can fly with a rocket than he can build a plane.
Musk visited the military aircraft facility of Boeing Company in San Antonio, Texas, on December 18, after Trump won the elections, but before he was inaugurated as president, Bloomberg News reported.
The visit was unusual, since Musk's company SpaceX is a Boeing competitor, especially on space contracts. The founder of Tesla has more than $ 2.4 billion in air force contracts.
During his stop, Musk Boeing encouraged to speed up the production of the complicated, highly classified surface, even if it meant that it would cut the turns and had hindered the security functions.
“The idea was that we could just strip a lot of military things, just giving the president a good looking new plane to fly in with commercial capacities and perhaps some minimal military upgrades,” a former Pentagon official told The Times.
The current heavily modified Boeing 747s used to fly presidents are more than 30 years old and need almost constant maintenance.
First Lady Melania Trump laughs while she watches President Donald Trump with a saber in a cake view of the new Air Force One Design cuts during the inaugural ball of the supreme commander
A model of the proposed paint schedule of the next generation Air Force One can see in the Oval Office during the first term of Donald Trump as president.
After a contract was signed for two new aircraft, Boeing struggled with the technical complications to convert 747s into flying forts and parts shortages and employees.
A frustrated and furious Trump is considering other options, including buying an existing 747 and upgrading.
On Saturday, Trump, who stayed in his house in Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, stopped at the international airport of Palm Beach to investigate a luxury jet that was on the runway.
The tail number of the late Model 747-8 revealed that at some point the aircraft was owned by the royal family of Qatari.
Such aircraft usually sell for around $ 400 million.
But upgrading an existing jet to presidential levels is not necessarily as simple – or cost -efficient – if it seems. It would probably also take years.
The requirements for a presidential aircraft include that it is able to avoid rocket attacks or to survive the fall -out of a nuclear explosion. The aircraft contains a huge military operational center, acts as a flying SCIF, has coded communication and contains an operating room.
The current heavily modified Boeing 747s used to fly presidents are more than 30 years old
President Donald Trump has commissioned Elon Musk to accelerate the new aircraft of the Air Force One, which lags behind schedule for about three years
In addition, all employees who work on the 747s require a freedom of security at a high level called Yankee White, who requires an extensive background survey.
Boeing has considered reducing the approval requirement for some employees who do not work on the more sensitive systems of the plane.
The company was also hampered by the COVID Pandemie, which delayed the recruitment process and worked on the planes.
But such a movement also proves a national security risk, such as spy by spies that occur as an employee.
Trump also wants his desired dark blue, dark blue and white color scheme even after engineers have expressed their concern, the dark pain caused thermal problems and the Pentagon returned to the original light blue and white, by order of the then President Joe Biden.
The way to make that design work has caused delays.
