Aviation experts stated that converting a Boeing 747 provided by Qatar into a new Air Force One for President Donald Trump may cost enormous amounts of money, take years to complete, and expose worrying capability inadequacies and security flaws into the aircraft of the chief executive.
First reported Sunday by ABC News, the Trump government is getting ready to welcome a lavish 747-8 from Qatar’s royal family, valued at around $400 million, to be used as Air Force One for most of his term. ABC said that the 13-year-old aircraft would be taken by the Air Force, altered to fit for presidential usage, and then donated to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation by the end of 2028.
L3 Harris has been hired to turn a Qatari 747 in Texas into an interim Air Force One, to be completed later this year, according earlier this month The Wall Street Journal.
Expert in military aircraft and managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory Richard Aboulafia said that even considering ethical issues, admitting that aircraft would be Air Force One would be problematic for a number of reasons.
“It’s all based on an embarrassing misunderstanding of what Air Force One is meant to do,” Aboulafia said. “If it’s a gold-plated palace in the sky and nothing more, have at it. If it’s an actual tool [to be used in a] worst-case contingency [like nuclear war], then this ain’t it.”
Originally under the VC-25B program, Boeing was supposed to deploy the two new Air Force One jets in 2024. That date has moved several times among supply chain issues, pandemic snags, and other stresses on the business.
First, the Air Force said that two 747-8s will replace the current presidential aircraft in 2015. But Trump objected to the expense, and his first government conducted hardball negotiations with Boeing to lower the price. Trump has become annoyed with Boeing’s development delays and publicly expressed his anger with the firm.
After Trump leaves office, the new Air Force Ones might not be available until 2029, but an Air Force official last week informed legislators that modifications to the criteria are now under consideration that might enable the aircraft to be delivered in 2027.
L3 Harris and Boeing refrained from commenting. The Air Force directed questions to the White House.
In a Truth Social post Sunday night, Trump discussed the possible 747 transaction and claimed, “the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE,” of the airplane.
Apart from transporting the president of the United States throughout the globe, Air Force One is supposed to be a flying situation room enabling the commander-in-chief to guide the U.S. military and administration during a major crisis, say World War III.
These updated aircraft now have a medical facility, military-grade power systems, confidential self-defense systems to guard the president against a hostile attack, and secure communications systems.
Doug Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, claimed, “one of the most exquisite comms suites on the planet,” Air Force One planes have. ” Under some of the most demanding circumstances [imaginable], it serves as a command and control center. That thing is hyper linked even merely on daily basis.
Along with survival and remain running throughout a nuclear war, past Air Force Ones have also been built with redundancy to ensure vital systems can continue running if something fails, Aboulafia remarked.
“If [Trump] wants all the capabilities and features of Air Force One, this would be a step backwards,” Aboulafia said. “They’d have to start over again with what they’ve been working on with the other 747-8” under the VC-25B program.
Costing “billions and billions of dollars,” Aboulafia added, upgrading a 747 from scratch may take into the 2030s.
“Even the ability to manage and communicate with military forces all over the globe with encrypted comms — that’s a tremendously expensive undertaking,” Aboulafia said. “It is underway in the other 747-8s [slated for the VC-25B program], has been for years. Starting over again with the same plane would take a lot longer.”
One capability of former Air Force Ones that would be absent from a converted Qatari 747 is aerial refueling. The VC-25B aircraft also demonstrated that capacity.
Given the president might be guiding the country through a nuclear war should one break out, Air Force One must also have possibly the highest degree of information security on Earth.
According to Aboulafia, it is quite alarming that an airplane from the Qatar royal family is being provided; the jet should be carefully checked and swept for listening devices. This probably calls for thorough explorations of its fundamental dynamics, he advised.
“It would present a major security concern,” Aboulafia said.
While the present VC-25B jets have been under development for the greater part of a decade, Birkey said it depends on what the military and administration decide must go into the plane whether it is possible to upgrade a 747-8 into an Air Force One in a matter of months.
“The timeline involved fundamentally depends on the scale and scope of the requirements,” Birkey said.
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