“Why does AF-1 have to be a heavy jet, wouldn’t it make more sense to have a small fast jet that can accommodate perhaps 2 dozen people and the rest can be spread out using hi tech coms?”
Everything big enough to carry two dozen people is subsonic, like the 747 which cruises about 0.85 Mach. The Gulfstream G650 cruises about 0.92 Mach. The newest Boeing, the 787, also cruises about 0.85 Mach
Endurance, room for lots of support personnel, comm gear and ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) gear make the 747 a good platform.
I remember as a kid in Houston the mach-busting jets overhead freaking out all the expensive fish in the elaborate aquariums 2-3X/day.
If DJT popped sonic booms all around DC and NYC, the press would go haywire with it :)
Still waiting for that Escape Pod....