L3Harris working on interim Air Force One sought by Trump -- source
Source: Reuters
May 1, 2025 10:23 AM EDT Updated 6 hours ago
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has tapped defense contractor L3Harris Technologies (LHX.N) to overhaul a Boeing 747 formerly used by the Qatari government for use as an interim Air Force One, a source told Reuters. President Donald Trump, frustrated by repeated delays on Boeing's Air Force One, wants to have the plane available for use as early as the fall, the Wall Street Journal said, which first reported the plan. Boeing did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while L3Harris declined to comment.
In mid-February, Trump expressed his displeasure with the U.S. planemaker but ruled out rival Airbus (AIR.PA) as an alternative. Around the same time, he toured a 12-year-old 747-8 aircraft near his Florida vacation home to better understand the presidential carrier. The WSJ report said the White House and military officials had also discussed suing Boeing or cancelling the contract for the new planes before Trump's inauguration in mid-January.
A separate source told Reuters that Trump had raised the delay in his first call with Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg last fall. Ortberg told Reuters in February that Trump adviser Elon Musk, the head of its space business rival SpaceX, is "helping us a lot" in navigating through delays in delivering Air Force One.
"Elon Musk is actually helping us a lot in working through the requirements...so that we can move faster and get the president those airplanes delivered," Ortberg said. In February, a senior administration official told Reuters the Air Force One program may be further delayed until 2029 or years later due partly to supply chain problems. Boeing has lost more than $2 billion on the $3.9 billion Air Force One program.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-tasked-l3harris-ready-interim-presidential-plane-by-year-end-wsj-says-2025-05-01/
= new reply since forum marked as read
(Trump unveils new Air Force One design plans - 6/3/19)
and has been told many times - during the first term and probably now - that the dark color on the underbelly is a NO-NO for aerodynamic purposes.
Current one(s) look like this -
.webp
So you would have an undesirable temperature change on the underside that might impact the lift.
There was a bunch of discussion on DU about it back during the first term (trying to find those is a nightmare) but here is an article that mentions the issue -
Analysis by Allison Morrow, CNN Business
Updated 1:20 PM EDT, Fri June 10, 2022
(snip)
On top of all of that, there’s a new headache: The paint job that former President Donald Trump ordered is a major liability.
Trump didn’t love the AF1 color scheme, with its light blue stripe that’s been there since the Kennedy administration. He wanted a supposedly more patriotic look, with a red, white and blue palette. In case the state-of-art tech and armada of nuclear-attack-resistant support planes didn’t do enough to scream “THIS IS AMERICA.”
But it turns out the darker blue Trump requested could potentially overheat the sophisticated electronics system that ensures POTUS can stay in secure communication with officials on the ground.
(snip)
Even his own personal jet has a light paint color on the underbelly -
Buj with Trump they could easily run on lies and bullshit.
