Steve Varsano on Air Force One: the current plane is over 30 years old, and its replacement has stalled for political reasons, not technical ones. Selling or gifting U.S. military aircraft requires government approval as a diplomatic tool. A $100 million price tag is tiny compared to the billions governments routinely exchange.
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The present Air Force One, very old now. It's about over 30 years old. The plane was highly technically advanced when it was delivered. I'm not sure why it took this long to get another airplane on order. That's not my world. It's the political world I don't know anything about. But the fact of the matter is, is when these people are talking about whether it's a favor or whether it's goodwill or good grace, whenever any of the governments are trying to buy military weapons or jet fighters from US companies, US government has to approve these kind of purchases anyway. So whether just approving a purchase for them to buy or to gift, you're still doing one government to another something to keep the general relationships going. $100 million, I know it sounds like a hell of a lot of money, but in the total scope of things, of billions being back and forth amongst these different governments, it's really a drop in the bucket.