President Trump’s patriotic design was abandoned due to color scheme issues discovered during an Air Force thermal survey.
President Joe Biden has decided to stick with the blue and white exterior color scheme of the next Air Force One aircraft, although the classic design will be slightly modernized.
US Air Force announced Friday night, the new 747-8i modified VC-25B will feature three main differences: a slightly deeper and more modern shade of light blue, a darker blue engine color to match the cockpit, and no polish. metal section.
The USAF said the polished metal section was scrapped because modern commercial aircraft skin alloys would not allow it.
Boeing is replacing an aging fleet of VC-25As that use the Air Force One callsign when POTUS is on board with the VC-25B aircraft due to capability gaps, rising maintenance costs and “obsolete parts”.
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Biden’s color choice follows a June 2022 decision to scrap a red, white and blue design proposed by President Donald Trump in 2018 after an Air Force review showed that darker colors would increase costs and delay delivery.
In Trump’s patriotic design, the top half of the plane would be white and the bottom half of the plane would be dark blue, including the belly. A crimson stripe would run from the cockpit to the tail.
The Air Force also determined that the navy blue color Trump wanted would “require additional FAA qualification testing for several commercial components due to additional heat in certain conditions” following a thermal study.
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According to Boeing, Air Force One’s classic blue and white color scheme has been in use since 1962, when President John F. Kennedy was in office.
Other modifications to the aircraft will include electrical upgrades, a medical facility and a self-defense system, the Air Force said.
The first aircraft is expected to be delivered in 2027 and the second in 2028.
The current generation of presidential jets debuted in 1990 under President George W. Bush and has since carried every president elected to office.
Credit: www.foxbusiness.com /