Loren Thompson, Forbes: Forget About Air Force One: This Is The Plane That Will Give President Trump The Most Trouble
President-elect Donald J. Trump's surprise comments this week about possibly canceling a next-generation Air Force One should be a wake-up call for the defense industry. Trump is going to rebuild military capabilities that decayed under his predecessor, but he won't tolerate contractors trying to game the system to make a killing.
In the case of Air Force One, Trump's concern may be premature. The Air Force hasn't finalized what future presidential jets will need to do, so it's hard to say what each one will cost. Prime contractor Boeing hasn't begun building them, it's just doing research to determine what's feasible.
However, there is another Air Force program that is nearly certain to bedevil Trump during his presidency. It's a future bomber called the B-21 Raider that is supposed to penetrate heavily-defended air space to destroy hardened and/or time-sensitive targets like mobile missile launchers. The Air Force wants to buy at least a hundred of the planes to replace Cold War bombers that in some cases are over a half-century old.\
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WNU Editor: I am usually in total disagreement with Loren Thompson .... but he is right when he says that President-elect Trump is sending a message to the defense industry that "business as usual" is not going to be "business as usual". That the new White House is not going to tolerate contractors trying to game the system to make a killing. If this type of focus can be sustained .... and I sincerely hope that President-elect Trump can sustain it .... it will shake up how the Pentagon plans, develops, and pays for new military systems .... because the system that now exists is certainly not working .... and it is costing an enormous amount of money.
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