According to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, “The secretary of defense has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations. The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the president of the United States.” According to the New York Times, President Trump also confirmed the action. “They’re giving the United States Air Force a jet, and it’s a great thing,” he said. Trump has also said he would like the work of retrofitting the Qatari jet to required security and performance standards to be completed as soon as the end of this year. President Trump has expressed the desire to accept the aircraft as a donation to his presidential library at the end of his term.
The U.S. Air Force has been tasked with upgrading the 13-year-old 747-8, now estimated to be worth about $200 million—down from earlier estimates of $400 million. The cost to retrofit the Qatari aircraft is estimated as $1 billion. The War Zone, an online military news source, reported yesterday, “Converting any aircraft into one that is secure enough to provide safe transport for the president of the United States, as well as allow for constant communication, including if they need to order a nuclear strike, is an extremely complex process. The aircraft has to be physically hardened inside and out against a plethora of threats, from the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear weapon going off to incoming surface-to-air missiles to enemy intelligence-gathering efforts. This, in turn, requires significant modifications right down to the aircraft’s core structure. As is highlighted by the tight controls around sourcing spares for the existing VC-25As (current Air Force One aircraft], there are specific processes around vetting individual parts to protect against espionage and sabotage.”
In a statement on Wednesday, the Air Force said it was preparing “to award a contract to modify a Boeing 747 aircraft for executive airlift. Details related to the contract are classified.”
The New York Times article quoted Aviat Global Sales CEO Marc Foulkrod, who has been assisting Qatar in trying unsuccessfully to sell the jet for the past five years. He said it would be better for the U.S. to pursue accelerating the original $3.9 billion Boeing contract to deliver the two new jets that have been in process for five years. “I’ve done completions on big airplanes,” Foulkrod said. “That’s a better value than trying to take an airplane from somebody else.”
