In today's highly developed capitalist countries, the United States is a ride on the dust, and the president, as the supreme representative of the image and power of the United States, his personal safety is related to both social stability and the face of the country.
Coupled with the fact that the president of the United States is always in charge of every opportunity, often pretending to be the "police of the world", often going out to the far away and going around the world to patrol and hang out, at this time, a good plane has become an indispensable means of transportation for the president of the United States.
Through the efforts of previous generations of US presidents, it can be said that "thousands of calls began to come out", and Air Force No. 1 was born in line with the trend.
Close-up view of Air Force 1
Air Force No. 1 here refers specifically to the special plane used by the US president when traveling, rather than the shoe brand in the eyes of some fashionistas, privately believing that Air Force No. 1 can not only send the US president to any place in the world on time and safely, but also another office space for the US president, which is the US air global command center, that is, the "White House in the air".
The design concept of Air Force 1 is that "what the president can do in the ground office can still be done on the plane." ”
It can be seen that Air Force No. 1 is by no means an ordinary aircraft, he not only carries the role and mission of safely escorting the president to a certain destination, but also has a profound political meaning, but he does not refer specifically to a certain aircraft, but is synonymous with the presidential plane.
That is to say, as long as the president boards a certain plane when he goes out and the plane belongs to the U.S. Air Force, it will be named Air Force No. 1, and if the President of the United States boards the Marine Corps helicopter, the helicopter will be named Marine Corps No. 1.
The origin of the UNITED States "Air Force 1"
U.S. Air Force No. 1 originated in the Roosevelt period, during World War II, Roosevelt was invited by Churchill and Charles de Gaulle to Europe to participate in the Casablanca Conference, but at that time the waters around Europe were full of German submarines, ships could not reach Europe safely, for the safety of the president, the U.S. Navy converted an RD-2 military aircraft into Roosevelt's special plane and successfully escorted Roosevelt to Europe.
At the end of World War II, roosevelt's health was deteriorating at this time, the U.S. military converted a C54 transport aircraft into a special aircraft for Roosevelt to use, unfortunately, Roosevelt only used it once and died, and then succeeded Truman replaced the C54 with a C118 aircraft, and sprayed the nose into the style of the American bald eagle, which was the initial shape of the U.S. Air Force No. 1.
During Eisenhower's reign, because the special plane he was on was on was the same number as another american civil aviation aircraft, under the command of the tower, and landed at the airport at the same time, almost causing a catastrophe, the US Air Force decided to give the presidential plane a special radio call sign, but it had to take into account the noble status of the US president, and finally it was indeed named "Air Force No. 1".
Although the models used by successive US presidents have been different, since then, Air Force 1 has almost become synonymous with the US president's special plane.
Generally speaking, the special plane number of the recent generations of PRESIDENTs of the United States is VC-25A, so the current widely known Air Force No. 1 refers to this aircraft, his predecessor is the American Boeing 747 civil aviation aircraft, which has been greatly modified, so that on the basis of the original model, not only expanded the internal space, arranged many office environments similar to the White House, but also its appearance, can also be whitewash different colors or logos according to the president's preferences.
At present, air force No. 1 is about 70 meters long, with a wingspan of 60 meters and a height of about 19 meters, equivalent to the height of six floors, the maximum passenger capacity can reach 366 people, and the aircraft design speed can reach up to 1128 kilometers per hour, and the take-off weight, endurance and flight altitude have been greatly improved compared with the previous generation, and the flight altitude is 13750 meters, which is higher than the height of the general civil aviation aircraft, and can fly 12700 kilometers or stay in the air for about 12 hours in the case of a single refueling.
Air Force 1 has undergone many violent modifications to achieve the ability to refuel in the air, in other words, Air Force 1 can extend the previous stay to a few days, such an amazing endurance, to send the President of the United States to the world almost easily.
It is rumored that Air Force No. 1 not only has an extremely luxurious internal structure, an extremely advanced and powerful superstructure and a comprehensive service system without dead ends, but also has the reputation of the world's "safest aircraft".
According to relevant US media reports, the current Air Force No. 1 can not only successfully evade the attack of conventional weapons, but even resist the devastating blow of the nuclear weapons shock wave on the aircraft, its safety performance is getting worse day by day, and the outside world is rumored that Air Force No. 1 has become an aircraft that cannot be shot down. Is it true or is it a mystery?
To find out what the truth is, please see what the author told me
Regardless of maintenance costs, it will cost about $3.5 billion to build an Air Force 1, which alone surpasses the B-2 Phantom stealth bomber, which is called the "ace of the Air Force" of the United States, equivalent to building a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, so high manufacturing costs, even the high-ranking US president currently has only two Air Force 1 (the president travels on one, the other plays a backup role).
Some people criticize the US Air Force for "stupid money", giving the reason that the US president will only take this plane when he is far away, and most of the time is quietly spent in the White House, and it is a waste to throw such a huge amount of money into Air Force 1.
Privately, although this statement is justified, it does not mention the key point, but can quote a trendy saying on the Internet: "Isn't this fragrant?" In response, in order to make Air Force No. 1 as close as possible to the president's habits and to protect the president's safety, these seemingly wasted expenses have finally achieved full use.
Air Force No. 1 mainly modified the interior and facilities of the Boeing 747 aircraft, the external structure and appearance have not changed much, its purpose is to facilitate the president to exercise his duties when flying, but also to play a certain role of concealment, the aircraft is not only equipped with office areas, rest areas, kitchens, bathrooms and toilets, operating tables, communication systems and pharmacies and other facilities are also readily available.
Of course, as a presidential plane, most of the daily necessities on the plane will be printed with the presidential badge, and generally the items with such badges can only be supplied to the president himself and his family to show the noble status of the president.
At the same time, Air Force 1 also provides an independent living space for white house staff and media reporters accompanying the president, and in the face of special events such as nuclear war or terrorist attacks, the president can immediately issue instructions on Air Force 1 through mobile phones, landlines and Internet communication systems, remote control or contact the security deployment of various departments on the US ground.
And the president of the United States will carry a mysterious leather bag containing a nuclear bomb launch button with him when he goes out, so except for one in the sky and one in the underground, Air Force 1 and the White House have little difference in function.
What is so great about such an expensive aircraft?
Air Force 1 has three floors, the top one, belonging to the "nerve center" of the aircraft, where the cockpit and communication center are arranged, in addition to the pilot rest, there is a total of four crew members in the cockpit, who are the main pilot, co-pilot, engineer and navigator.
These four people are by no means a rabble, they all come from various U.S. air bases, they are the elite of the elite, either pilots of fighters or other special aircraft who have thousands of hours of flight experience, or officers who have distinguished themselves in some air force operating systems.
And before entering the Air Force No. 1 fleet, they have to undergo strict and cruel military training and many political reviews, and only those who have passed the examination and meet all the conditions are eligible to enter the Air Force No. 1 cockpit.
The role of air force communication center 1 is not only to contact the airport tower, but also equipped with a number of radio communication command systems, basically completed the signal docking mission to all important departments of the United States.
The middle layer of Air Force 1, or the second layer, is the core area of air force 1.
In addition to the gates and aisles, it is carefully divided into 11 areas, and the president and his family, elite politicians, media reporters, White House staff and other important people are active in this layer, and the more noble people are, the higher the front.
From the nose to the tail, respectively
With approximately 400 square meters of space on the second floor, the Presidential Suite is the most luxuriously decorated, with a Simmons bed, electric curtains, leather sofas and premium carpets, as well as a separate bathroom where the President can enjoy his private life as he pleases.
Next door is the President's Office, which houses a solid wooden bench the same size as the White House, and the entire office is in an oval shape, with the president's exclusive leather seat.
Those who have access to the Office of the President, in addition to the President himself, generally only the Vice President, five-star generals or senior officials of other important departments can enter the Office of the President by invitation.
The area of the entire office is not particularly large, only more than 20 square meters, however, here have been planned many times to shock the world war, several major instructions in the world from here, talking and laughing between the trees and ashes, this small place of only more than 20 square meters, has affected 510 million square kilometers of the earth, do you believe?
The reason why Air Force No. 1 is called an aircraft that cannot be shot down by the world is not because of its luxurious internal structure, but because of its excellent self-protection ability.
For example, the security system at the tail of Air Force No. 1 has multiple security equipment, which can maintain contact with the U.S. ground command and the nearest air base through radio satellites, share flight status, and when Air Force No. 1 is threatened or has special circumstances, nearby U.S. fighters can take off at any time to escort.
In terms of passive protection facilities, the appearance of Air Force No. 1 is covered with thick and hard special armor and all windows are equipped with bulletproof glass made of special materials, which can resist ordinary machine guns and grenade fire, of course, these two roles are mainly reflected in the aircraft take-off or landing, and in the flight process, because the flight height of Air Force No. 1 is higher than that of general civil aviation aircraft, ordinary machine guns and grenades cannot reach such a long range, so they will not pose a substantial threat to Air Force No. 1.
However, some people may say what if the other side uses missiles to attack Air Force 1. To be sure, conventional missiles have also done limited damage to Air Force 1, reflecting the advanced nature of Air Force 1's active defense equipment.
Schematic diagram of an electronic countermeasure system for interference
For a military power, anti-missile is not a problem, whether on the ground or in the air.
Air Force No. 1 is equipped with the world's most advanced surface-to-air anti-missile system and ECM electronic countermeasure system, which can not only quickly lock the direction of the source of the opposing missile, but also interfere with the missile radar system and disorient it.
The tail of Air Force No. 1 also carries a number of powerful jamming bombs, mainly used against enemy-fired heat-seeking missiles, which will lock on to the target according to the exhaust gas discharged by the aircraft, and these hot and bright jamming bombs can just lure them and make them change the object of tracking.
Schematic of a heat-seeking missile
At the same time, Air Force No. 1 is also equipped with a missile launch warning system and an AAQ directional infrared jamming system, the former can play an early warning role in reporting and tracking missile launch information, and the latter will release pulsed infrared interference energy in a wide range after the missile launch warning system receives the missile warning signal, making the missile guidance system chaotic and thus deviating from the predetermined course.
Can Air Force 1 resist the shock wave of a nuclear explosion?
In order to seek the truth of the matter, the author deliberately "climbed over the wall" to find some clues from the White House website.
The electronics line used by Air Force 1, if straightened to the ground, can reach a total length of at least 238 miles, twice as long as the average Boeing 747 aircraft.
As for the rumors that Air Force No. 1 can resist the shock wave generated by the nuclear explosion may be wrong, it is not so mysterious, air force No. 1 can essentially resist, is the electromagnetic pulse generated when the nuclear bomb explodes, the electromagnetic pulse can produce complete destructive power on electronic equipment, and the special design of air force No. 1 can weaken or even block the electromagnetic pulse, so as to ensure that the communication system can be used normally.
It is worth mentioning that if Air Force No. 1 really has an extremely dangerous situation during flight, the president will not be "destroyed" because of Air Force No. 1, and Air Force No. 1 is also equipped with an ejection system that can eject the president at the most dangerous moment.
With so many special structures and defense facilities, the high cost of Air Force 1 can be explained, of course, what is said here is only the cost, but the maintenance cost of Air Force 1 in the process of use can be as high as 200,000 US dollars per hour, and it is surprising that such an expensive Air Force 1 actually exists in two and is almost exactly the same.
The president will randomly choose one of them every time he travels, and the other will become a shadow plane to perform cover missions, but there is a certain gap in the take-off time, the two will hardly take off at the same time, and will eventually land at the same airport or near the destination.
In this way, there are two major advantages: one is that it can confuse the terrorist's line of sight and play a role in jamming and covering, and on the other hand, it can be replaced at any time when the president's aircraft has an irreparable failure.
Moreover, it is impossible for the president to carry only two Air Force No. 1 per trip, and it stands to reason that the president of the United States will be equipped with at least one communications aircraft provided by U.S. intelligence on every trip abroad, two Marine Corps 1 helicopters, multiple Hercules transport aircraft, and multiple bulletproof vehicles.
With so many different security facilities, can Air Force 1 be unsafe?
However, the reason why Air Force No. 1 is called a "cannot be shot down" aircraft, the excellent defense system is only one aspect, say a thousand ways and ten thousand, more importantly:
Air Force No. 1 is backed by the strong military and economic strength of the United States, making other countries or people with ulterior motives dare not move this idea.
US military bases are spread all over the world, this kind of "Jingke Thorn Qin" approach will not only not have a substantial impact on the United States, but also may be subject to devastating retaliation by the United States, coupled with the possibility of Air Force No. 1 being attacked and crashed itself is low, I believe that no one will recklessly do such a stupid thing.
Privately, I think that the biggest deficiency of the current Air Force No. 1 is that there is no automatic elevator, and the actual needs of the current president are not taken into account, and the old man has to personally walk on the 6-story air force No. 1 at such an old age, so that he accidentally fell a few times, which is a pity!