Why Air Force One is preserved while 'The Beast' presidential limo must be destroyed

Unlike The Beast – the Presidential Limo used by the US president – Air Force One doesn’t get destroyed every time it’s replaced.

Most aircraft end up in museums, namely the Presidential Gallery of the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

By contrast, The Beast absolutely does not end up in a museum.

But there’s a surprisingly simple explanation behind this.

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Why Air Force One doesn’t get destroyed

Air Force One is the nickname given to any aircraft the US president uses to travel both domestically and abroad.

The name stems from the official call sign of any US Air Force aircraft carrying the president.

The call sign is only used when the US president travels on it, and it generally switches to something else when the aircraft is either empty or transporting someone else.

Obviously, this also affects the way the aircraft can be tracked.

The reason why Air Force One aircraft aren’t destroyed is surprisingly simple, and it has to do with the way the DHS, Department of Homeland Security, can reuse its technology.

That’s because The Beast, the presidential limo, is a heavily customized vehicle built from scratch.

By contrast, Air Force One is a more standardized aircraft.

It obviously also includes sensitive systems, but those can be easily stripped and then either upgraded or destroyed individually, without having to crush the whole plane.

No one actually knows what The Beast is

Jay Leno once featured The Beast in one of his videos, and that’s how we learned a few interesting facts about the world’s most secure car.

No one knows how many Beasts exist, but we do know there are at least two, with one being used for the US president, while the other is a decoy.

When the car appeared in an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, US Secret Service agents explained a few more interesting things about it.

For starters, they explained that The Beast doesn’t travel on Air Force One.

They generally use C-5 cargo planes for that.

They also explained that this bulletproof Cadillac is destroyed after being decommissioned, precisely because that’s the best and safest way to preserve its secrets.

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