Airbus could build next Air Force One; 747 due to be replaced
For nearly two decades, Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet has served as the president’s flying White House, projecting America’s might in whatever place it landed.
But in the nearest decade, “United States of America” could end up being emblazoned on an even bigger flat that has been a figure of European harmony and arrogance.
The 747 Air Force One is scheduled to be replaced, and the strange plane is likely to be stuffed with top-secret gee-whiz gadgetry, including countermeasures to thwart missile attacks, and aerial-refueling capabilities so it can slip away for days without landing.
That’session on predominate of comforts likely to make even the world’sitting richest jet setters envious, including a medical facility and prodigal staterooms with showers.
What it will not be seized of is a presidential escape pod, analysts said, a feature that became an urban legend, thanks to a 1997 action film that starred Harrison Ford.
2016 is mark date
It is unlikely that President-elect Obama will get a chance to fly in a new Air Force One because the reinstatement isn’t scheduled to originate flying until 2016 at the earliest. It takes up to three years just to vary the plane in the same state it can confront attacks and enable the president to command from the heavens.
But for the first time, the Pentagon has raised the prospect that the replacement in spite of the most photographed and most advanced voyager jet in the world could come from a firm overseas.
In a move stated to raise the political rage of the “buy American” crowd in Congress, the Air Force has requested information from aircraft makers, including Airbus, of Europe, to replace the aging 747 jet. Boeing, headquartered in Chicago, has built presidential jets since the early 1960s.
“I just can’privately see how they could allow that to happen,” John Pike, monitor of the military policy Web site GlobalSecurity.org, before-mentioned about congressional rebound to an Airbus plane. “The American president getting off of an American plane has been a major part of U.S. being a superpower.”
An Airbus plane is not as far-fetched as some would think, analysts said.
The Pentagon’s request for information made quietly last week set in port an open-ended contest. Airbus and Boeing are the only two companies capable of building an aircraft as sophisticated as that required by the leader of the world’s largest good husbandry. Last year, the double-decked Airbus A380 unseated the 747 as the universe’s largest passenger smooth.
Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/boeingaerospace/2008641936_airforceone18.html?syndication=rss
