I believe the cost is not in regards to the plane but to all the security essential stuff built-in and that the plane won’t be ready until 2023.
Even with the security and communication gadgets these things need that price seems excessive.
A B2, designed to stealthy penetrate hostile air environments and precision strike targets, costs around $929 million each. This price is double that per plane. Something does not pass the smell test here.
Now Trump knows you can beat the hell out of that cost....cuz it's re-design. They're not inventing the wheel.
And the price we heard was only the beginning.
I used to work in shipbuilding making US Navy destroyers and cruisers. The cost of a fully outfitted destroyer at the time (15 years ago, admittedly) was about $1B give or take. That included the hull, the engines, an entire military comms system, a full weapons system with a full complement of missiles, high end radars, living quarters, galley, sonars, countermeasures ... everything needed for a crew of a couple hundred people to execute combat missions over the space of several months. Today it looks to be up to about $1.8B.
If the cost of two copies of Air Force One is $4B (not sure that's the real truth but IF so) it's too high. There is simply no way each plane should cost the same as a fully equipped destroyer.