On new Air Force One, Trump is right. Let’s fix all defense procurements

According to Boeing, the average cost of a 747-8 aircraft is around $380 million.

On Tuesday, however, President-Elect Trump tweeted (corroborated by NBC News) that two Boeing 747-8-varaints being built to replace Air Force One will cost $4 billion.

Now, even taking into account the intrinsic higher costs of a Presidential aircraft, the difference between $760 million (the cost of two standard 747-8 aircraft) and $4 billion is significant. That differential demands our attention for a number of reasons.

First off, $4 billion is already $1 billion more than the Air Force requested from Congress earlier this year. That request had already accounted for highly advanced avionics, communications, and defensive technology that the new Air Force Ones need.

Second, this is not the first time a presidential procurement has gone cost-haywire, just ask President Obama. On entering office in 2009, the President found that defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, projected costs had increased by over $5 billion (yes, $5 billion) for its development of a new fleet of presidential helicopters. Mr. Obama’s frugality with taxpayer money might since have evaporated, but he deserves credit for pulling the plug on that waste.