Trump says Qatari-gifted AF1 to be ‘maxed out’ following questions of security
Trump will stop flying on the jet and return to an older plane while upgrades take place over about one month, the White House said Monday.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One will be sent to be “maxed out,” amid questions about the jet’s security technology. Trump will stop flying on the jet and return to an older plane while those upgrades take place over about one month, the White House said Monday.
“It has a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re going to send it to have it be maxed out,” he said speaking in front of the aircraft at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. It is unclear what exact upgrades Trump was referring to.
“The new Air Force One is perfectly safe for the President’s travels, but will receive additional upgrades and enhancements in the fall which will take approximately one month to complete,” Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Monday.
“During that time, the President will fly on the old Air Force One,” she said.
The new plane is a Boeing 747-800 worth $400 million and was donated by Qatar in an unusual deal between the U.S. and Qatari governments, which raised ethical, legal, and national security concerns at the time it was donated and accepted by the Pentagon last summer. The Air Force said in May that the aircraft — now with a dark blue, red, and gold paint scheme — had undergone modification and flight testing.
After the accelerated modification process, Trump began flying on the new jet this month.
The Air Force previously told the Washington Post that it “coordinated closely with appropriate government entities to ensure all functional mission requirements were strictly met for transporting the President.”
The FBI opened an investigation of the New York Times, issuing subpoenas to several reporters, after the outlet published reporting citing sources who said the aircraft lacked some of the defensive countermeasures previous planes had, including advanced antimissile capabilities. The Times reported that a senior FBI official contacted Times journalists before the article was published to caution against doing so, citing national security concerns. The official also asked for the journalists’ sources, which they refused to provide.
Trump arrived at the NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month on the gifted jet but, in a surprise switch, did not use that plane when he left.
Trump denied then that security concerns prompted the change but suggested that Iran could have tried to attack the plane. Reporters flying with the president were asked to close their window blinds as they departed Ankara.
“They asked you to close your windows; they probably feel that way [about possible threats]. They didn’t ask me to close mine, but if they did, I would’ve done it,” Trump said.
The Qatari jet is meant to serve as a bridge between the older, roughly 35-year-old Air Force One planes and two new Boeing 747s that the company is retrofitting for $3.9 billion. Features will include antimissile defense systems, electronic anti-hacking protection, and advanced communications systems to use with the Pentagon.
Nearly a decade of delays have meant that the new planes may not be ready by the time Trump’s second term ends. And costs have increased to an estimated $5.6 billion, an overrun for which Boeing is on the hook, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The inside of the gifted jet has largely been kept the same as the design meant for the Qatari royal family, with cream-and-tan leather seating on the decks, photos showed. The Qatari plane is expected to be gifted to Trump’s presidential library at the end of his term.