Obama aide: We would have been impeached for spending $24M to upgrade Air Force One fridge

[UpInArms]

Source: The Hill

A senior adviser to former President Obama on Friday mocked reports that replacing the Air Force One refrigerators will cost $24 million, saying Obama "would have been impeached" over it.

“We would have been impeached,” Eric Schultz, a former White House deputy press secretary, said.

Defense One reported this week that two aging refrigerators on the aircraft will be replaced at a cost of almost $24 million.

The coolers on the aircraft need to have the capacity to store 3,000 meals onboard, and two out of the five are in need of replacement, according to the publication. The refrigerators have been in use on the plane since 1990.
Boeing was awarded a $23.7 million contract to replace the refrigerators, according to Defense One.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/370979-obama-aide-we-would-have-been-impeached-for-spending-24m-to

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Deplorables would have hunted Obama down and ended him if he had done this

[Docreed2003]

2. No doubt!

[BigmanPigman]

3. They just about would have hunted him down for

bringing a picnic cooler on board. They didn't need a rational reason to obstruct and hate him for 8 years. He was the wrong color and that is all that matters to them and the GOP.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

26. Sums it up pretty well.

[brush]

55. With depreciation and all, is the whole plane, flying since 1990 worth 24m?

[dhol82]

4. Anybody know why they need to accommodate 3000 meals?

How many people can be aboard at any given time?

[Journeyman]

7. For the present occupant, they all need to be "Happy Meals," and those need to socialize. . .

[potone]

39. Ha! Thanks for the laught!

[Flaleftist]

9. For security reasons, I believe there are

plans for AF 1 to stay in the air for long periods of time. It can be refueled in mid-flight, but they need food.

For example, if WW3 broke out with nukes flying, they might not find a safe place to land for weeks.

[dhol82]

12. If they have to stay in flight that long then how do they service the lavatories?

If there are that many people on board for that period of time then they need functioning lavs.

Still have a problem with 3,000 meals. Figure 100 people/three meals a day/10 days. Even with nuclear war they wouldn’t have to be in the air that long.

[pangaia]

20. Flush the flusher .

[dhol82]

22. Well, that is one way to cut down on the number of meals.

[elehhhhna]

23. Get boxes of freeze dried crap the mil has to eat. Sheesh.

[former9thward]

49. Of course they would have to be up there.

AF 1 can easily fly for three weeks non-stop. In the event of nuclear war AF 1 might need to be up at least that long.

[dhol82]

50. So the toilets can fully accommodate 100 people pooping for several weeks?

We will not get involved in the pee aspect.
Inquiring minds and all.
These are important questions.

[former9thward]

51. Flush it out to the ground.

If nuclear war is going on that would be the least thing for people on the ground to worry about.

[dhol82]

53. If you can do that then that is my answer

Thank you.
Blue ice all over, eh?

[onenote]

52. If its safe for refueling planes to take off and land, why wouldn't it be safe for AF One?

Are there always 3000 meals on board in case an emergency or would taking off be delayed while they loaded up 3000 meals? How long are the meals good for?

And why does it cost $12 million per refrigerator? According to Boeing, that includes design costs. But why are there design costs? These are replacements. Doesn't someone have the design drawings and specs for the original refrigerators?

[former9thward]

57. The only question I can give an answer (or opinion) on is your first.

The military considers AF One to be protected at all costs. Other aircraft are expendable.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

56. The toilets probably cost $5 million a piece.

I've heard numbers thrown around of 2-3 weeks aloft if needed.

Even if they land somewhere they can't always count on having food handy. Most likely they will but when the President is involved there are going to be contingencies upon contingencies. Even though the current resident is a flaming orange asshole.

[DeminPennswoods]

34. This

The plane has to be able to serve as a "flying WH" as it were.

[Cold War Spook]

44. Weeks?

Who is going to refuel it?

[former9thward]

48. KC 135s and KC-10s.

They are always in the air someplace.

[Cold War Spook]

59. Okay

and who is going to refuel them? What air bases alone not counting every other military post of any significance is going to be left after a nuclear war? Any important place left not just ours won't last once our and Russian submarines let go with all they have.

[GetRidOfThem]

29. they need to feed 3,000 Republican zombies, that's why.

[irisblue]

45. Independence Day, the first movie

Getting ready for that maybe?

[left-of-center2012]

5. 3,000 meal capacity? Why?

"The coolers on the aircraft need to have the capacity to store 3,000 meals onboard"

That's a lot of Big Macs and KFC !

[csziggy]

14. 102 crew/passengers x 3 meals a day so 3000 meals is ten days supply

[Pantagruel]

6. 3000 meals?

Why?

[LiberalArkie]

10. It is a command center and refuge during a world war.

It is the only 747 that can be refueled in the air.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

19. There is another 747 that has been specially equipped to serve as an airborne command post

The E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post, also called "Nighthawk," serves as a survivable mobile command post for the National Command Authority, namely the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, and successors. (Sorry, Melania, there's only room for Ivanka.)

The E-4 follows the President around and usually lands at a nearby military base in case it's needed.

When I was a KC-135 navigator and the E-4 would land at March AFB in Riverside, CA, while Air Force One was parked at LAX, electronic garage doors would suddenly start operating automatically. We were told it wasn't related to the fact the aircraft is packed with electronics.

We used to take our KC-135 tankers up and practice refueling the E-4. It is a monster aircraft when it's flying in formation 30 feet behind you.

[pangaia]

21. So, if the E4 and AF-1 can not land, where so the tankers tank up?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

32. I don't know if it is they can't land the airplanes, it's more a question of whether they want to

Sometimes the safest place to be is in the air, where you have more options of where to relocate the President and his band of merry men. I doubt they plan to actually stay airborne for 10 days -- the meals can be prepared while the aircraft is sitting on the ramp, where the toilets can be serviced. Aerial refueling extends the range from about 7300 miles to anywhere on earth.

As far as the tankers landing is concerned, when I navigated the KC-135 in support of a B-52 whose mission would head over the pole to its Soviet target, our instructions were to give the bomber everything we had until we reached "standpipe," which left us with about 20 minutes of fuel left. Then it was up to us to find somewhere to land.

As an aside, on 9-11 it's always puzzled me why the Secret Service didn't hustle Bush out of the classroom, into the limo and directly to the airport where Air Force One would be sitting with its engines running. Then head due east or west and the President would be out of harm's way in a matter of minutes instead of the hour-plus it took for him to get to end of "My Pet Goat" and then make a statement in front of a backdrop of students. The stop in Alexandria, LA, and Minot AFB, ND, has never been explained, either, especially in light of his statement that he was going to be going directly back to Washington. I guess life always has to have its mysteries. Sorry to get off-topic.

[dhol82]

24. Ok, I will ask you the same question

If that plane is up there for ten days, how do they service the lavs?
You know that thry can’t accommodate ten days of 100 people pooping.
Questions, questions.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

31. I think the answer is in "The Zen of Flying"

"What is the sound of 100 people pooping?"

I haven't been able to find any information about the 747 toilet system, other than the capacity of the solid waste storage tanks (1100 liters/290 gallons). Lavatory and galley water is pumped overboard in flight.

If they follow the lead of the ISS, where urine is reprocessed into drinking water, engineers have figured out how to process solid human waste into flavored brown patties. Chicken or fish, anyone?

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. If you're talking world war, then most of the rations should be emergency ones

not needing refrigeration. But even then, 3000 meals at $25 million is the equivalent of 3 meals needing a $25,000 fridge. Something is seriously out of whack.

[Scalded Nun]

8. So much over indulgence in government spending.

Who wrote the work statement for that contract? They should be jailed. 3000 meals indeed!

On a lighter note, those refrigerators would probably have cost less before Trump's tariffs. I doubt those units will be made in America.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Needs to be large enough to hold this

[iluvtennis]

16. LMBO :-)

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

27. Okay, now THAT'S funny!!

[OldManTarHeel]

13. 3K . . ? That's a lot of Happy Meals . .

[Butterflylady]

15. 24 mil would feed a lot hungry people.

And they deserve it more. Just sayin.

[Initech]

17. The GOP are completely out of control.

Our government has been taken over by toddlers who scream when they don't get a toy.

[Demtexan]

18. So only two coolers will be replaced.

So that is $12,000,000 a cooler?

That is a lot for any plane.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

28. I'll replace 'em for $10 million...

and throw in a case of Bud Lite for the BigMac-in-Chief.

[DeminPennswoods]

35. These are unique items

The price tag for these kind of unique items is always shocking to the general public, but it's a fact of life when you are buying only 1, 2 or a few. The contract specs are also stringent and unique as well. These aren't items that you stroll on down to your local appliance store and buy. I know that parts, at least for the engines of all aircraft used for the president, when they need to be replaced are always replaced by new parts, never repaired ones.

[Hortensis]

36. Does that mean it'd cost $3M to replace them?

Seriously, what you say is of course true. What we don't know is what an honest price would be.

I did work in the defense industry briefly long ago, and what I saw in required institutionalized negligence was why it was only "briefly." It was shocking to someone who was used to the positive pressures of competition on performance and I moved on, even though the positions one large step above my level were paid amazingly well, candy-jar well.

Those people were paid to tell even generals who called personally to try to get things moving that need and even whole development programs halted for lack of a part were irrelevant. The officially required backlog that had to be maintained was 4 years at that time. Excellent job security, though.

[DeminPennswoods]

40. CICA is the law in military contracting

but there's no competition for items like these. There is just no economies of scale to be had that would interest any company other than than Boeing/OEM to make them. Even the OEMs don't want to hold tooling or inventory for future needs, then when DoD buys and holds such inventory, they get beat up by Congress for having "excess" inventory.

I don't think most people realize just how small military procurements are compared to commercial aircraft procurements. Aside from hardware like nuts, bolts, screws, etc, the quantities being ordered to support US aircraft range from a few to maybe a few hundreds or low thousands. It's not cost effective because of the low quantites and often unique requirements. This was my civil service career. I can assure you no one was deliberately negligent and we were certainly not non-responsive to expedite requests.

[Hortensis]

43. I'm sure you know a lot about this because of your

background. The company I worked for made actuators for military aircraft.

Have a nice day.

[onenote]

54. They're not really "unique" -- two were designed and built for the plane in 1990

So there really isn't need for design work -- someone has the specs for the originals.

And the current AF One, and its refrigerators, was built in 1990 -- 28 years ago. The current AF one is supposed to be replaced by 2024. So they don't have to build in the same level of durability in the replacements as in the originals.

[erpowers]

30. Media Attention?

How much media attention is this story getting? If this had happened under President Obama right wing news would have been talking about this 24 hours-a-day. I assume Donald Trump's supports will toss this away by saying Trump has saved them and the country billions of dollars since his election, so it is okay that he will spend $24 million dollars upgrading two refrigerators. They will also likely blame President Obama by claiming, Trump had to spend the money because Obama refused to do his job and upgrade the refrigerators when he was President. They will probably try to claim that the problem was somehow made worse by President Obama. They will probably claim if President Obama had not gone on so many vacations during his time in office the refrigerators would not have needed to be upgraded.

[machI]

33. I bet they are also installing $640 toilet seats with their $600 hammers

$37 screws, a $7,622 coffee maker, $640 toilet seats; : suppliers to our military just won't be oversold

[DeminPennswoods]

41. I have seen video of an F-14 airframe actually flexing

in flight with the only thing holding it together being the rivets. Do you think the Navy should go to Home Depot and pick this specialized hardware out of a bin just because it might look the same on the outside?

[kentuck]

37. Those are some expensive refrigerators!

Where did they buy them??

[True_Blue]

38. If Obama had done even one single thing that Trump has done

The GOP would've impeached him and sent him to prison.

[Cosmocat]

58. On point

The actual cost of these is clearly debatable.

Its just that if it is in fact a necessity, the right wing hate bubble would be a DEFCON 1 over it had it been ANY D POTUS in the White House.

[DallasNE]

42. Damn, 3,000 Big Mac Meals

It's obvious Trump is a big eater but this is ridiculous. Does the $23.7 million include the cost of those 3,000 Big Mac's? I long for the good old days of $3,000 toilet seats.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

46. They should just gild the refrigerator doors.

The current color of Avocado wouldn't meet Trump's sense of decor, but bright gold doors would just dazzle him.

[SFnomad]

47. I think they wanted to Impeach President Obama because he used dijon mustard too n/t