Originally Posted by
etudiant
These aircraft are stuffed with electronics and everything is custom made, but still has to be tested and qualified. Integrating the electronics is a software intensive task.
So the price of the hulls and engines are almost irrelevant, except that the engines are also modified to allow longer refueled flights.
Agree entirely that signing up to do this on a fixed price basis was foolish, but iirc, they were really determined to keep Boeing as the builder of Air Force 1.
Yep, high-end one-offs are extremely expensive, especially, when the whole needs to be certified. 100 Years ago, one did buy a Rolls-Royce based on that one-off concept, fortunately no certifications in those days
Wasn't the one (ehhh, the president) pushing for this "low price", the president who wanted to make America great again ? Bad start, ruined the US and, he even might end up (for other reasons) in (deserved) prison .......