I wonder what the Star Trek universe version of Air Force One would be? I imagine a transport with a lot more bells and whistles protected by a squadron of the best starships in Starfleet.
Given that we've never seen any other official escorted by a squadron (even the Klingon chancellor), I'm thinking a Galaxy-class would suffice.
I always like to imagine that the Federation President's equivalent to Air Force One would be a Galaxy-class starship, whether or not it's operated by Starfleet. To me, that ship design captures the majesty and power, yet peaceable nature, of the Federation as a state. The novels have established that any Starfleet vessel carrying the Federation President carries the designation Starfleet One. However, the President has a dedicated civilian ship called Paris One that is also often used. As security for the Federation President is provided by the Protection Detail of the Federation Security Agency, it seems probable that the FSA operates Paris One. Paris One seems to be the default transport, but either one may be used depending on the situation. The class of Paris One has never been established, but, again, I like to imagine that it is a Galaxy-class starship. For interplanetary transportation within a single star system, the Federation President has three dedicated shuttlecraft based out of the Palais de la Concorde (the Federation capitol): the al-Rashid, the T'Maran, and the sh'Rothress, each named after an early Federation President (Haroun al-Rashid of Earth, T'Maran of Vulcan, and Avaranthi sh'Rothress of Andor). The three shuttles always travel together in variable-order flight patterns to help confuse potential observers as to which shuttle the President is aboard, as a security precaution. The class of the shuttles has never been established, but I like to imagine that they are Type-11 shuttlecraft, like the one seen in INS.
Most chief executives today use modified small/medium sized commercial aircraft, or larger private jets. The American President's transports are larger, but even those are a pair of commercial jetliners that were modified. The thought that a Galaxy Class would just sit in Earth orbit waiting for the President to need to go somewhere borders on the absurd. Something much more modest would do nicely. For trip around the interior areas of the Federation he likely wouldn't even require an escort.
For real-world examples, presidents and other heads of state or de facto leaders have tended to travel aboard warships of cruiser or battlecruiser type, for their speed advantage over other types. (Before these types were introduced, in the age of sail, such exalted people simply didn't see the point of traveling by sea, except perhaps across the Channel every now and then.) Things like Air Force One come from a different universe altogether, one where ships no longer play any meaningful role in the transportation of people, and people only embark on ships for the pleasure of not getting anywhere much, and taking their sweet time doing it. Star Trek would represent yet another universe, one where we hear of no speed advantage for "aircraft" over "ships", and no speed advantage for "cruisers" over "battleships". The Galaxy is supposedly a very fast ship, and a well-protected yet luxurious one, so there are no known disadvantages of using that for ferrying the UFP President - unless he, she or it wants to travel in secrecy. The Nebula is basically identical, and has been seen (or at least mentioned) shuttling top diplomats in episodes like "Sarek". Would the UFP President really choose to travel aboard a Starfleet vessel, though? We have never heard of such a thing happening in canon Trek, but he did get to Khitomer somehow. And that summit was a very martial one, probably warranting sending an Excelsior class starship or similar - plus a very risky one, probably warranting actually sending the President aboard an old Saladin while letting everybody think he was aboard that flashy big flagship! If Paris One exists because the President doesn't want to be seen using Starfleet transportation, then she probably in no way resembles Starfleet vessels, and in fact may go to rather ridiculous lengths to look radically different. ...Wouldn't Type 11 be awfully small and cramped for the President and his/her/its supposed entourage? Craft of, say, three times the size would seem plausible in the Trek universe, and more useful for the task. You can't easily park Type 11 anywhere in a city anyway, so you need a separate "limo" to go with this "chopper" or "jet" - and a slightly larger shuttle would have enough space for comfortable transporters or an onboard flitter. Timo Saloniemi
I'd go with a customized Intrepid-class. Big enough for a large entourage. Small enough to not be a waste of resources. And powerful enough to go anywhere fast and to protect itself. Plus, it can land if necessary.
Here you go: http://www.inpayne.com/models/kitbash/trekpage_alliance.html My concept is for a diplomatic embassy ship that would fulfill the same mission the Enterprise was doing in Journey to Babel. If a conference is happening anywhere in the Federation, the Grand Alliance travels around picking up delegates and taking them there. She also has conference rooms aboard so she can host her own. Plus of course, a grand ballroom to entertain the guests, and plush staterooms for ambassadors and their families. She is also tasked as "Starfleet One" - transporting the Federation President and his staff on important state trips. A presidential suite and staff offices are aboard so the pres can continue to work during the trip. The ship is marginally faster than most other ships of her time, with the ability to cruise at warp 9.9 for up to 12 hours. Flank speed is still classified. She'll get the president, or any other diplomats, where they need to get, really fast.
Are you serious? I can understand fans coming up with something generic and unimaginative like "Starfleet 1", but official writers??? ffs.... It appears Star Trek universe is getting as bad as Star Wars cluster"freak". What a disappointment, especially when you consider that Federation president seems to be a weakling, a small ceremonial position like the German president with some, but limited powers. The Council has real power, and Starfleet Command even more. In my opinion, Fleet Admiral that is the Chief of Starfleet is probably the most powerful person in Federation. That was Nechayev last time I checked, always traveling aboard an Excelsior, but it wouldn't surprise me if the writers nowadays have a Jem'Hadar that we saw that one time in that one episode as the Fleet Admiral. EDIT: This is not a knock on any individual writer; they all seem to be genuine fans and love Trek, but sometimes it seems like they really take it too far or look for the easy way out
If you really think the Federation President lacks power I strongly recommend reading the later books in the A Time To... series or the more recent The Fall series. Even a pro tempore Federation President has vast power to do things with limited or no involvement by the Council.
Why would the ship have to be sitting in orbit? When the President wants to go somewhere their schedule is presumably figured out well in advance; plenty of time for the nearest appropriate vessel to warp to Earth from wherever it was at the time. For that matter, no reason for the ship to travel to Earth if the President can take a different ship and rendezvous with the Galaxy Class or what-not to continue with the bulk of their trip.
I'd agree with both T'Girl and Timo. Dedicating a Galaxy-class exclusively to executive transport seems like overkill, and if such a ship was needed the president could just use one which was available. An escort of ships seems unnecessary outside of a wartime situation. Historically royal and presidential yachts have been relatively small (though in the sailing Royal Navy the royal yacht captain got perks like the pay of a first-rate captain). Franklin Roosevelt, who liked to go to sea a lot, also used available cruisers before the war, often Houston, Chicago or Augusta, which had been built to serve as flagships with extra accommodations for the staff. At the Argentia conference, Roosevelt arrived in Augusta and Prime Minister Churchill in the new battleship Prince of Wales. Later in the war, when FDR's health had become questionable for air travel, he crossed the Atlantic in the new battleship Iowa on the way to the Tehran conference. Of course there were escorts, as any big warship would have in wartime, and on the Tehran crossing there was an unfortunate incident when an escorting destroyer accidentally fired a live torpedo at Iowa during a practice drill. If the president had a dedicated executive transport, I'd think it would be most likely an adaptation of a civilian passenger vessel.
The question is would they need a dedicated starship? Or would they just use which ever starfleet vessel happened to be available? Surely it would be easier just to use which ever vessel was available.
There is a fine tradition of using this sort of designation - Air Force One, Marine One, etc - for the transport craft carrying the President - and the only reason I can think of that you would consider it "generic and unimaginative" rather than "functional and traditional" is that it originates with the United States. And while I'm a big fan of multiculturalism, myself, the Federation and Starfleet rather obviously DO pull at least some of their tradition from the U.S., and more specifically, the U.S. Navy, so it seems reasonable that at least some of the craft the POTUFP travels aboard would be designated things like Starfleet One and maybe even MACO One, although we haven't seen the latter. HOWEVER, when President Bush was aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, to use a relatively recent example, while the Navy S-3 Viking that carried him to the ship was designated Navy One, the whole bloody carrier did not get redesignated Navy One while he was aboard. It only seems appropriate to do that to aircraft or maybe boats, but not to ships. So I could see a shuttle carrying the POTUFP to and from the surface being designated Starfleet One, but I think the starship carrying them between systems would remain U.S.S. Whateveritsnameis, with the possible exception of a high speed transport shuttle assigned specifically to the executive branch, such as the three "Paris One" shuttles. Personally, I kind of like the idea of the President making high speed jaunts in a retooled Defiant-class with the offensive armaments removed, additional defensive measures added, and the Romulans allowing the use of a cloak since it isn't a Starfleet vessel but one assigned to the office of the POTUFP. But that's just me.
Of course not, because "Air Force One" etc. are not names but callsigns for communications purposes, something that only became necessary in the post-WW2 era of voice-radio air traffic control. The only "names" of the current VC-25 aircraft that most people think of as Air Force One are SAM 28000 and SAM 29000.
So it never occurred to you that it would be "generic and unimaginative" because it simply is generic and unimaginative? What should we call a Starship carrying a president? Let's see what US calls an airplane that has such duties... What should Federation secretary of defense do during a break? Traditionally he goes duck hunting with a phaser... While Starfleet uses some terms from Royal Navy and U.S. Navy, it does so in the context that makes sense. Gene did tons of stuff that was original and that tried to make 24th century more realistic instead of talking about tradition all the time. Starships don't have call-signs, it's just an easy way out for the writers
When we see him in DS9, he doesn't seem to have much power at all. The president is relying on good officers like Sisko and Picard to uphold the law. One bad apple almost deposed him and took over Earth. Attempting to replicate US gov't into Star Trek universe simply doesn't rhyme with canon.
But US Navy ships do use tactical voice radio call signs for voice communications in place of the ship's name for security purposes. For inbetween ships, aircraft, spotters and other friendly units. I think (occasionally I do) that USS Triumphant point was that the Abraham Lincoln did not change it's call sign to a unique one for whenever the president is aboard, while the president was actually aboard. It would have kept the call sign that it was using prior to the president's arrival. In the movie The Hunt for Red October, the USS Enterprise's call sign was "Yankee Starbase." http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/helpers/tvrc.htm In the novel perhaps, but the Council's power exceeds the President in-universe on the show, we in fact rarely even hear of the President, suggesting he really isn't very important or powerful. The majority of the power on display rests with the Council. One example, while the President at one point self-importantly refers to himself as "the commander in chief," the bulk of the episodes make clear the it's the Council that give instructions to Starfleet, not the President.
Which makes sense within the universe. Regent Kuzar from ST: Insurrection is not going to let some popularly elected president make major decisions that could affect them adversely. She'll go before the Council and there will be deliberations before a decision is made. This is how it works in movies, TNG, and DS9. We also see admirals and even captains make big, big decisions, that would perhaps require approval of a president or prime minister in today's democracies. Starfleet has tremendous power over politics of Federation