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> But you can imagine it needs to be resilient to atmospheric nuclear blasts, have the ability to support tons of communication gear, internal security, radar j
by bmitc 5y ago
> But you can imagine it needs to be resilient to atmospheric nuclear blasts, have the ability to support tons of communication gear, internal security, radar jamming/chaff systems, infrared suppression, support for press operations. There are rumors about things like onboard surgery suites.
Why?
- Thorrez 5y agoThey might be useful to help the president in case of an emergency.
- pjc50 5y agoFollowing Abraham Lincoln's "I can make a brigadier general in five minutes, but it is not easy to replace a hundred and ten horses", an alternative would be to accept a higher risk of losing the President and having to failover to the hot spare, in the weird and unlikely circumstances that the AF1 measures would actually help. Thereby saving a few billion dollars. Zelensky seems to be doing OK in a helmet and flak jacket. I did check whether he has a presidential plane - the previous president was a notorious big spender - and the answer appears to be a leasing co. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_Air_Enterprise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_Air_Enterprise based at Boryspil airport southeast of Kyiv. "Temporarily closed" on google maps.
- Thorrez 5y agoI think it's not just about keeping the president alive, but also about keeping the president functional. A president who's alive but trapped in a plane without good communication isn't very helpful to the country. In a time of emergency the president needs to make decisions and communicate them quickly.