President Obama: Up, Close and Personal with his Beast

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President Obama is on a State Visit to United Kingdom this month – May 2011. It’s an honour to have him around but my goodness, a few roads have had to be closed for him, “The Beast” and his entourage of about 16 cars. So, I thought while he was in London, I would use the opportunity to have a closer look at his Beast – The Caddy Limo (Cadillac).

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I found out some amusing facts:

a) It weighs 6,350kg – a lot of it from the armour protection. The body is made up of steel, aluminium, titanium and ceramic. The glass is five-inches and hermetically sealed to secure it from chemical attacks. The underside has a Kevlar mat to protect it from any bomb attacks.

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b) The doors are so thick and weigh as much as a Boeing 747's. Obama can't hear any outside noise, unless it’s played through to the speakers.

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c) The Chauffeur of the Beast can drive it through smoke and also in complete darkness, due to an infrared video system.The fuel tank is leak proof and is filled with special foam that will prevent it from exploding, even if hit directly. It also has two holes in the front bumper that can emit tear gas and fire smoke grenades.

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d) The Cadillac normally flies 2 flags, the American flag and the Presidential Standard. When Obama is on state visits, the Presidential Standard is replaced by the flag of the country he is visiting. You will notice below, on his visit to us in UK, it’s the British flag on the Beast.

e) In the boot of the Beast, there is a firefighting system. It also has a bank of the president's blood that is carried at all times. Now I understand why an Ambulance was part of the cars that followed him in London. The Beast also has it’s own Oxygen Supply, if anything terrible should happen.

f) The Beast’s tyres can run on flat. Heaven forbid, if the tyres are missing, the steel rims are designed to allow the car to keep on driving at high speed. However, the top speed is only 60mph and it takes about 15 seconds to reach this.

g) Obama also has his Gadgets and Toys - a 10-disc CD, sophisticated electronic communications, direct phones to the White House and internet etc I think he hid his Play Station / Xbox from me.

So, now you know why it’s called “The Beast”.

Would you Fancy a Spin in it?

Food for Thought

I admire Obama a lot, but don't see the reason why he should fly "The Beast" over to countries he is visiting, just so he can use it there. This must cost millions of Dollars a year for his visits. Even our Queen in England doesn't fly her bullet-proof Rolls Royce out to places that she will be visiting, yet her security is very tight.

There are many sophisticated Snipers etc out there - I guess if we ask Obama if he can out-smart them, his answer would be: "Yes, I Can!"

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