Air Force Comes Under Fire For Luxury Aircraft
Comfort Capsules

An Air Force document specified that the capsule's seats are to swivel such that "the longitudinal axis of the seat is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft" regardless of where the capsules are facing. (Special to The Washington Post).

The Air Force's use of more than $16 million in counter-terrorism funds for "comfort capsules" on military planes has prompted an internal debate over whether taxpayer money should be used for luxury Defense items.

Air Force officials say the government needs the new "capsules," which will be installed aboard Air Force aircraft, will ensure that leaders can talk, work and rest comfortably in the air. But the top brass's preoccupation with creating new high-flying luxury in wartime has alienated lower-ranking Air Force officers familiar with the effort, as well as congressional staff and a nonprofit group that calls the program a waste of money, The Post's R. Jeffrey Smith reports.

Internal Air Force e-mails documenting the decision making for the planes were provided to The Post by the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit Washington group, and independently authenticated. They show that the mobile pallets feature plush, swiveling leather chairs, beds, a couch, a table, a 37-inch flat-screen monitor with stereo speakers and a full-length mirror.

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