Trump: Boeing ‘doing a little bit of a number’ on taxpayers for new Air Force One

The cost of building a new Air Force One will be about $4 billion, Trump tweeted Tuesday. He later took a question from reporters at Trump Tower about the tweet and said it’s going to cost too much.

“The plane is totally out of control, it’s going to be over $4 billion for the Air Force One program, and I think it’s ridiculous,” Trump said. “I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money.”

In a statement, Boeing said it only has a contract for an initial phase of the project so far.

“We are currently under contract for $170 million to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the President of the United States,” the company said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the U.S. Air Force on subsequent phases of the program allowing us to deliver the best planes for the President at the best value for the American taxpayer.”

The Pentagon has budgeted the cost for at least two new Air Force One jets at $1.65 billion as of earlier this year, according to Reuters. Reports indicate the current editions of the president’s plane that are in use are close to the end of their 30-year lifespan and are getting harder to fly.

We are still conducting risk reduction activities with Boeing to inform the engineering and manufacturing development contract negotiations that will define the capabilities and cost,” said Air Force spokesman Capt. Michael Hertzog. “We have budgeted $2.7B in the Fiscal Year 2017 Future Years Defense Program for Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) but expect this number to change as the program matures with the completion of the risk reduction activities.

However, NBC Nightly News reported Tuesday afternoon that an unnamed Air Force official said the new Air Force Ones will cost more than $4 billion by the time they’re actually delivered, as Trump suggested.

According to the NBC report, if research and development costs are taken into account, then about $2.7 billion has already been spent on coming up with the designs for the new planes. The Government Accountability Office warned the total cost could end up being more than $3.5 billion before the planes are constructed and the price would go over $4 billion when the government actually purchases the planes.

Todd Harrison, a budget expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, confirmed the $4 billion number, adding that they will “operate as a flying command post for POTUS in a national emergency, have EMP protection, etc.”

Trump initially tweeted Tuesday, “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!”

In an interview with Politico, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James explained developing the aircraft “is complicated.”

“Air Force One, although it is a 747 platform, is way, way more than what you would think of as a commercial airliner,” James said. “It really is, in many ways, a flying White House, in terms of the security. There’s [electronic] countermeasures built in, communications, very high level communications, security of all types. After all, this is carrying the president of the United States. It has to go long distances, it has to survive under difficult circumstances, much more difficulty than a normal civilian airliner. So it is a bit more complicated than perhaps meets the eye.”

She also told the site that the White House, and not the Air Force, sets the standards.

“There are professional security people who are in the White House who develop requirements for Air Force One,” she said. “They are not political appointees; they are professional security people. Those requirements then come to the Air Force and our job is to build the acquisition strategy around it to deliver those requirements. In other words, we didn’t make up all these security factors and communications standards.”