Joe Biden is
all set to be sworn-in as the 46th President of the United States on
Wednesday. Biden will ride to and from the US Capitol in the officially designated state
car, called ‘The Beast’, which is a new Cadillac-based model and was inducted
into the Secret Service fleet in 2018 during Donald Trump’s presidency, according to media reports. It
replaced the previous model of the Beast, which has been in service since 2009. 

The US presidential
limousine is one of the most sophisticated vehicles for any head of state
around the world. ‘The Beast’ has a custom-built medium-duty truck frame design
and is a one-of-a-kind vehicle.

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Here are a
few more facts on ‘The Beast’:

1. More
than two of the latest Beast models have been delivered to the Secret Service by
General Motors as a backup or decoys. Any usual presidential motorcade has at
least two of these vehicles.

2. The limousine
has an airplane, a C-17 Globemaster Cargo, designated to follow the president
wherever he goes.

3. All
presidential limousines are built similarly and are heavily armoured. The
security features include five-inch-thick glass, 8-inch-thick doors, which weigh
as much as a commercial aircraft door – a titanium-ceramic body and a bomb-proof
plate covering the underside.

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4. Other security
features include run-flat tyres, night vision gear, its own oxygen supply,
satellite phones and nuclear codes. It can also fire gas canisters from the
front bumpers.

5. The new
model is estimated to weigh a lot less than the older one, which weighed around
14,000 to 20,000 pounds.

6. The new Beast
is a unique in design and features. The only similarity with production
vehicles is the grill, which is based on the design of Cadillac Escala.

7. The
Beast has a 5.0-litre diesel engine.

8. The
Security Service’s code for the Beast is ‘Stagecoach’.

9. It has a
stock of the President’s blood-type, along with a defibrillator and other
emergency gear.