How much will it cost to renovate the Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar into the next Air Force One? That’s classified information. But a recent $934 million transfer of funds to a Pentagon budget may hold a clue.
The New York Times reported that this “transfer” to an unnamed classified project described in a Pentagon document sent to Capitol Hill likely includes the cost of renovating the gifted plane into a lavish gold-accented flying palace for President Trump. The funds were moved to a budget dedicated to updating America’s ground-based nuclear missiles, and Air Force officials told the paper that at least some of the funds for the renovations will come from the nuclear modernization project.
Making the project even more absurd, because the renovations will take one or two years to complete, Trump will only fly in the plane as president for a short time until he leaves office and the plane is ostensibly transferred to his presidential library in 2029 — at least that is what Trump has said will happen. (Unless, that is, Trump finds a way to extend his time in office beyond this four year term, as he has often hinted at, though that would be extremely unconstitutional.)
Among the improvements to the plane are upgrades to its communications systems and engines as well as the addition of antimissile systems. Plus, U.S. intelligence will need to identify and remove any covert listening devices that Qatar may have embedded in the plane’s walls. Finally, the plane will be treated to similar internal decor to the Oval Office, which Trump has outfitted with tacky gold accents.
Trump pursued the gift from Qatar, he said, because Boeing is years behind schedule to deliver two new planes to serve as Air Force Ones, a project that has already cost $4 billion.
Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink testified to Congress in June about the cost to renovate the Qatar plane.
“I think there has been a number thrown around on the order of $1 billion,” he said. “But a lot of those costs associated with that are costs that we’d have experienced anyway, we will just experience them early,” ahead of Boeing’s scheduled delivery of its new Air Force Ones. “So it wouldn’t be anywhere near that.”
He added, “We believe the actual retrofit of that aircraft is probably less than $400 million.”
But engineers and Air Force experts familiar with this kind of work shed doubt on that price tag, and members of Congress have voiced worries that Trump will want to use the plane quickly, and he will push the Air Force to complete the work before installing proper safety mechanisms.
While the Pentagon will reveal the price to modernize America’s ground-base nuclear missiles, it declined to share with the Times just how much the plane upgrades will cost.
“The more we learn about this deal, the more disturbing it becomes,” Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen told the paper. “The security implications of accepting a private plane from a foreign nation as Air Force One and the resulting ethical concerns a gift of that sizes creates were already significant.”
She also expressed concern that “this administration is diverting funds from the nuclear modernization budget to finance costly renovations to this plane,” which means the U.S. is “weakening our credibility to fund a vanity project for President Trump.”
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