Washington: Air Force One is primed to receive an upgrade that will includenew refrigerators expected to cost American taxpayers nearly $24 million.
The US Air Force awarded Boeing a $23.6 million contract in December toreplace two of the five “cold chiller units” aboard the aircraft used byPresident Donald Trump.
“The current rear lower lobe cold chiller units being replaced are theoriginal commercial equipment delivered with the aircraft in 1990. Theunits were based on the technology at the time and designed for short-termfood storage,” Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek told CNN.
“Although serviced on a regular basis, reliability has decreased withfailures increasing, especially in hot/humid environments. The units areunable to effectively support mission requirements for food storage,” shesaid.
Defense One highlighted the cost of the chillers earlier this week.
Due to the fact that Air Force One is a one-of-a-kind aircraft, many of itscomponents require unique testing by the Federal Aviation Administrationand the cost of the testing is included in the price of the component, inthis case, refrigerators.
The $24 million contract will cover the costs of engineering supportservices for the new chillers — including prototype design, manufacturingand installation, according to the DOD contract.
“The units and associated aircraft structural modifications are beingspecially designed to provide nearly 70 cubic feet oftemperature-controlled (refrigeration/freezer) storage to support onboardpersonnel for an extended period of time, without having to restock whileabroad,” Stefanek told CNN.
“The engineering required to design, manufacture, conduct environmentaltesting and obtain Federal Aviation Administration certification areincluded in the cost,” she said.
Former senior adviser to President Barack Obama Eric Schultz mocked thehigh price tag in a tweet on Friday, saying, “we would have been impeached.”
The Boeing fridge contract isn’t the first time an administration has comeunder fire for the high cost of military aircraft upgrades — the Obamaadministration was pressured to scuttle plans to build a new fleet ofpresidential helicopters in 2009 after reports emerged that they cost atleast $11 billion.
When he was running for president, Trump boasted he would swap out AirForce One with his private jet and has been fiercely critical of the costof the new Air Force One program in the past, stating “costs are out ofcontrol” and “cancel order!” in a December 2016 tweet.
But since taking office, Trump-like his predecessors — has travelled aboardthe Boeing-made VC-25 aircraft, the latest version of which entered servicein 1990.
The Air Force announced last year that it had finalized a deal to purchasetwo already-built aircraft from Boeing to serve as the next generation ofAir Force One, flying future presidents around the world for decades tocome. That contract is separate from the arrangement between Boeing and theAir Force for the upkeep of the current Air Force One fleet.