A furious President Donald Trump has deputized Elon Musk to badger Boeing into delivering two new Air Force One jets—a project that has been been derailed by PR nightmares and technical issues, according to a report.
The president has urged Musk to take drastic measures, such as rolling back security clearance standards for those working on the presidential planes, The New York Times reported earlier this week.
According to several inside sources, Trump is reportedly livid about having to fly in the same presidential planes that have been in use for more than 30 years, dating back to George H.W. Bush’s term.
Trump has pushed for the new planes to have a patriotic red, white, and blue color scheme—rather than the current light blue and white color—despite thermal issues raised by the dark blue.
During his four years out of office, Trump kept a model version of the new presidential jet in his office at Mar-a-Lago, the Times reported.
“They’ve been building this thing forever,” Trump said during his joint Fox News interview with Musk this week. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Boeing originally signed the contract for the project in 2018, during Trump’s first term. The jets were supposed to be ready for use in 2024. It now looks as if they won’t be finished until near the end of Trump’s second stint in office.
The endeavor has been beset by a series of disasters.
On the PR side, the company has dealt with lapsed security clearances for its workers and an instance where empty tequila bottles were found onboard one of the planes.
In one technical setback, the team working on the project had to repair tiny cracks discovered in the structures for the two planes. The COVID pandemic also contributed to the delays by making it harder to find workers and causing supply-chain issues.
Musk, whom Trump has tapped to slash government spending, has been in conversation with Boeing’s leadership since Trump was elected in November.
Trump has reportedly suggested behind closed doors that if Musk, who owns SpaceX, can fly a rocket, he can probably figure out an airplane.
While part of Musk’s approach is to air their frustrations to Boeing’s leaders in an attempt to pressure the company into speeding up the process, there are more concrete options under consideration.
Right now, working on the project requires a high security clearance level known as “Yankee White.” It demands a level of vetting equivalent to that undergone by military personnel who interact with the president. Lowering the necessary security level would speed up the project by making it easier for Boeing to find workers, but it also comes with potential national security risks.
Musk has also questioned how much flight testing the planes need, inside sources told the Times. However, current and former Pentagon officials expressed concerns that cutting corners in this way could compromise safety.
In December, despite not yet being a White House adviser, Musk visited Boeing’s facility in San Antonio, Texas, to try to expedite the production process, the Times reported.
“The idea was that we could just strip out a lot of the military stuff, just give the president a good-looking new airplane to fly in with commercial capabilities and maybe some minimal military upgrades,” a former Pentagon official told the Times.
Trump has also considered finding an alternative luxury jet to use in the meantime.
On Saturday, in what was seemingly meant to be a jab at Boeing, Trump inspected a Boeing 747-8 at Palm Beach International Airport, even kicking its tires.
Retrofitting a jet like that one could still take two years.
