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US Air Force to spend $1.5 billion retro-fitting gifted Qatari plane for Trump use. (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [M] to c/world@quokk.au
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[–] 78 points 1 year ago (1 child)

This is EXACTLY why we ELIMINATED my Child's EDUCATION! So we can Afford THIS!

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    And food and health assistance for the most at-risk Americans.

    (You do know our tax dollars still go to this when "the poors" get arrested or die in the streets, right?)

    Fuck this country.

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    • [–] 77 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    And since the plane gets transferred to Trump's actual ownership after his term, Trump gets a free $2billion plane..

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    [–] 40 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I wonder how many better planes could be built for that price.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The Air Force awarded Boeing a $3.9 billion contract in 2018 for two new Air Force One planes, updated VC-25B models based on the newer 747-8I. Delivery originally was slated for 2024 but currently they are looking at 2027.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I guess not quite 1, but at least it isn't decades old. Though, who knows, government projects like this have a habit of ballooning in cost.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    That was a fixed price contract for the new planes. Boeing will have to eat any cost overruns. Their CEO has Already been complaining about it.

    The days of cost plus contracting with companies like Boeing are essentially gone luckily. Now that the practice is decently well known by the public, it can't just be hidden as a cost of private sector business anymore like they used to claim.

    A decently large reason for that is SpaceX's dramatically cheaper space launch costs, even with iterative design principles resulting in a lot of "waste" designs and products being destroyed or never used. Their contracts were fixed prices through NASA commercial programs so they never received contracts cost plus the way companies like Boeing did, so they actually optimized to minimize their costs. They proved in the real world that cost plus wasn't necessary for those contracts at all, and Boeing has been one of the worst hit by that.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    I meant the updating of the Qatari plane could balloon to equal the cost of one of the newer planes.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Oh possibly. Not sure the government has even signed those contracts yet at this point.

    The one surprising thing is that the Qatari jet is actually a 747-8 model like the two new contracted planes. So I suppose it could technically be outfitted as a new Air Force One, then only one of the new airframes finished and outfitted, and then gut this to finish the second new airframe, leaving a gutted 747-8 for Trump.

    But we know that's not what will happen.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    It will cost more to strip it, verify parts, retrofit and rebuild it and sweep the thing for malicious items/bugs and/or bombs.

    Israel is making indiscernible beeper bombs and this retard accepted a 485,000lb potential bomb.

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    • [–] 36 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Oh look. Another violation of our Constitution.

    Hope everyone is well aware that our Constitution is basically toilet paper now.

    The collapse of our democracy is imminent.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Imminent?

    Hmm.. I think it has already happened and we are just in there awkward lull as we await the consequences to start rolling in...

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This is what the enemies of American democracy want you to think so that you stop voting, stop fighting, stop caring, and just submit.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    That American Democracy has failed is debatable.

    That it can be revived is not.

    I would not advocate surrender to authoritarianism - but I would urge we all take an unflinchingly look at the systemic failures within our existing governmental system that allowed it to take root and (ultimately) to come to power. We are better equipped to resist after assessing our current situation and understanding how it was that we came to be here.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Is there a list of every time he's violated the US Constitution?

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    • [–] 31 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    for scale ... how much is that in little girl dolls ?

    30 dolls ? 100 dolls ?

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    • [–] 30 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    See, that's what government efficiency looks like!

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago*

    trump the ever moron, thought he was getting a steal, when in fact that 400million jet had a very expensive upkeep. it was mostly like costing QATARIS to even having sit in an airplane hanger in thier country before "gifting" it to trump.

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    • [+] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)
    [deleted]
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    • [–] 18 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    spend our money. to corporations. for this shit.

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    • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    How I learned to stop worrying and love the grift

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    [–] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    OP, I think you just linked ABC's home page instead of the article

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    • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    The art of the deal

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    [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Hahaha, haha, American people won't allow this, they have guns

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    [+] 1 point 1 year ago
    [removed by mod]
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    [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    Can we please stop all planes that use fossil fuels?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    i wish, batteries are still too heavy to replace jet fuel, hydrogen could work weight wise, but too low density and you just don't have space in an airplane (you could design one but it'll be too big and have too much drag).

    best possibility for now is biofuels. basically plug and play.

    better yet, replace all major overland routes with high speed rail, much cheaper than flying anyways.

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