#1 of the images Secrets of “The Beast”, The Most Strongest Vehicle on Earth | FRIDAY DIGITAL

President Biden sitting in the back seat (Photo by Hiroto Kato) Nicknamed “THE BEAST” = “The Strongest Beast on Earth” On Sunday, May 22, as many Japanese people gathered at Yokota Air Base for the “Japan-U.S. Friendship Festival 2022” held for the first time in three years, President Joe Biden, who was visiting Japan for the first time as the 46th President of the United States, used the “Cadillac One,” the U.S. Presidential Car, for transportation within Japan (mainly within Tokyo).  This U.S. presidential car is also called “THE BEAST”. It was named by the Presidential Secret Service, which manages the presidential vehicles, after 2001, when the vehicles became heavily armored vehicles during the presidency of George W. Bush. This car is said to be the strongest on earth. When the president travels around the U.S. or around the world, it is placed on a transport plane and travels with him. Air Force One arrives several hours or days before the president’s arrival, and is on standby at the local airport to receive him so that he can be transported immediately. In the U.S., the vehicle used by the president for transportation is generally called “___ One”. For example, the aircraft is called “Air Force One,” the Marine Corps helicopter that carried the President from Yokota Air Base to the U.S. military facility in Tokyo is called “Marine One,” and the General Motors (GM) Cadillac-based special vehicle is called “Cadillac One”. The official name on the GM side is “Cadillac Presidential Limousine,” but in fact, the only thing it has in common with the Cadillac sold to the general public is its face and emblem, and its chassis is based on a GM truck frame, making it a completely different animal.   Debuting in September 2018 at a cost of over $1.7 billion. The current Beast has a contract with GM to be built new at a cost of more than 1.7 billion yen. Around 10 Beasts with the same specifications are being built in total, and two of them usually move with the president. These two cars are exactly the same specifications, for camouflage so that it is not instantly obvious which one the President is riding in. The Beast’s windows are bulletproof, with five layers of glass, the thickest of which is approximately 13 cm thick, making it an extremely thick piece of glass (or is it more like a block of glass?). Because of this, it is naturally impossible to open and close the windows, and only the driver’s window can be opened about 3 inches (7.6 cm). The doors are also covered with various kinds of armor, with an average thickness of more than 20 cm. The weight is surprisingly equivalent to that of a Boeing 757 jet, which is often used for government aircraft. As a result, the Beast’s vehicle weight is approximately 9 tons! This is three to four times the weight of a similar limousine, or the equivalent of eight to nine compact cars. Hence, its top speed is around 100 km/h, fuel consumption is no more than 2-3 km/L, and it takes more than 15 seconds to go from 0-100 km/h.

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Secrets of “The Beast”, The Most Strongest Vehicle on Earth

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