President Donald Trump advised reporters final month the donated Qatari jet could be ready for his use as Air Force One in February 2026, properly forward of the long-delayed supply of two presidential planes from Boeing by way of a extra conventional acquisition course of.
“They say February,” Trump stated in late July, when requested by a reporter when he anticipated to be flying on the brand new airplane. “Much sooner than the others. The others are being built.”
But former Defense officers and aviation analysts categorical deep skepticism about how lifelike that timeline is, citing the immense job of upgrading a overseas authorities’s airplane to fulfill Air Force One’s distinct necessities and guaranteeing it’s secure and safe for a president to fly on, particularly internationally.
Andrew Hunter is a former assistant secretary of the Air Force beneath the Biden administration. He oversaw an annual finances of greater than $54 billion for hundreds of acquisition applications, together with Air Force One. He thinks it will be “challenging, if not impossible,” to finish the jet in that timeframe with out Trump waiving a number of the necessities that usually must happen earlier than a president can fly on a brand new airplane.
“It would not be possible to replicate all the capabilities of an Air Force One on (the donated jet), on any time frame shorter than what they’re doing with (the Boeing program),” he stated.
Beyond the timeline considerations from an aviation perspective, the plan to use a donated Boeing 747-8 from Qatar poses a whole lot of questions and has drawn bipartisan scrutiny. Many are skeptical of the legality and ethics of accepting such a present. Others are anxious concerning the risk to safety, primarily based on how a lot goes right into a jet match for the chief of the United States.
But Trump stays undaunted and continues to undertaking optimism concerning the timeline.
“We’ll get this one a year-and-a-half, two years earlier (than the Boeing planes),” the president advised reporters in late July.
The contracted jets proceed to endure renovations in San Antonio. The Qatari airplane was beforehand parked in the town as properly whereas awaiting upgrades, however open supply aircraft tracker ADS-B Exchange exhibits the jet flew to Fort Worth Alliance Airport on June 29. The airplane has not often popped up on the open supply tracker since then, with it final being recorded in late July on the Texas airport.
Refurbishments on business jets that don’t have the strict and sophisticated necessities of Air Force One can take weeks or months relying on how a lot work must be performed and the age of the plane. For instance, in line with aviation website Simply Flying, sure upkeep checks involving the entire disassembly of a airplane are performed each six to 12 years. That complete inspection usually takes between three to 6 weeks.
But safety considerations imply what the Qatari airplane must endure is much more arduous than that disassembly, specialists say, and could be very more likely to take longer.
The airplane can be ready by February, stated Richard Aboulafia, a managing director at boutique aerospace and protection administration consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory, however not with the aptitude or safety that an Air Force One wants, elevating the likelihood that the administration could plan to chop corners in order to ship it in that timeframe.
“It is absolutely going to be ready to start flying in February,” Aboulafia stated, “and instantly transmitting every onboard conversation to anybody around the world who has a connection to it.”
“It’s very different from stripping a plane down and inspecting it,” Aboulafia stated. “Very different – overhauling systems, overhauling engines, doing what you need to do to get the plane operationally ready. That’s an extremely different job than scanning it for security risks, very different.”
Retrofitting and putting in the required safety and communications gear on a second-hand airplane from one other authorities, even a pleasant one, is a monumental task, NCS has reported. US spy and safety companies tasked with the overhaul might want to basically strip the plane right down to its body and rebuild it with the required gear.
The extra adjustments made to the airplane itself, stated Frank Kendall, the Air Force secretary beneath the Biden administration, the extra that might want to happen to make sure that it meets air-worthiness necessities, taking longer.
“There’s a chance Trump will never get this airplane no matter what,” Kendall, who now does consulting work, stated.
However, Kendall, echoing different specialists, stated the donated jet could be ready in February, “if the president waives almost all Air Force One unique requirements and minimizes modifications to the airplane.”
“It would probably result in a plane that would only be used inside the US,” he stated.
The White House and the Air Force didn’t reply to a request for remark.
It’s not clear the place the improve course of at present stands, and the specialists NCS spoke to haven’t seen the jet in particular person.
In early July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart signed an agreement outlining the phrases of the jet’s “unconditional donation,” NCS beforehand reported, though the phrases haven’t been formally introduced.
An addendum to the settlement reviewed by NCS final month stated the Air Force “is in the process of finalizing the transfer of registration and will immediately begin execution of the required modifications.”
Conversations about changing the decades-old planes at present utilized by the president started years in the past beneath former President Barack Obama. Momentum started selecting up beneath the primary Trump administration when he struck a deal to buy two current plane from Boeing, however the addition of a airplane donated by the Qatari royal household has added a wierd and a few say regarding twist to the saga.
In 2018, Boeing confirmed it acquired a $3.9 billion contract for two new presidential planes. By 2022, the president of the United States was presupposed to be in a brand new airplane.
But that timeline additionally didn’t pan out, main Trump to search out another.
When the president introduced he deliberate to simply accept a jet from Qatar, it raised a whole lot of eyebrows. Several Republican senators expressed misgivings concerning the thought, noting the potential for safety and authorized dangers. Trump’s plan for the airplane to go to his presidential library upon leaving workplace raised extra moral considerations.
And whereas Trump has stated it will be silly to show down a “free, very expensive airplane,” officers say renovating the jet could price a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
When requested how a lot it will price to retrofit the brand new airplane, Trump deflected. Officially, the worth tag to retrofit the Qatari airplane for use by the president is assessed, however Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers in June that it’ll “probably” price lower than $400 million.
“That’s up to the military. I really don’t know. I haven’t been involved,” Trump stated final month. “It’s their plane, it’s, you know, the Air Force,” he stated. “They’ll be spending that amount of money.”
The Air Force is seeking to fund the upgrades by transferring a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from the vastly overbudget Sentinel program to an unspecified categorised undertaking, sources conversant in a congressional notification concerning the switch previously told NCS. Sentinel is a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile system that’s being developed to switch the US’ getting older Minuteman III missiles.
Boeing’s contract to switch two Air Force One jets had an unique supply date of 2022 – however now the planes are probably anticipated by 2027, a timeline that will ship them whereas Trump continues to be in workplace. It’s one to 2 years sooner than Boeing had most just lately predicted, after a worldwide pandemic, provide chain points and different issues stalled manufacturing and the corporate incurred losses totaling $2.5 billion on this system.
Hunter, the previous Air Force assistant secretary, argues one of many greatest design challenges of this system is ending inside design work on the plane. In 2021, Boeing fired GDC Technics, which was employed as a subcontractor to design and construct the interiors of the brand new planes, and later sued the corporate, citing delays. GDC Technics countersued and later filed for bankruptcy.
Boeing declined to touch upon the place the inside work stands.
While the Qatari jet would require a serious overhaul to make sure its security, safety and operability as it carries the president, the brand new Boeing jets are following the extra conventional route, made in the United States by a widely known producer. And Aboulafia sees promise in the troubled firm, which is making an attempt to show a nook.
“Everything is kind of turning around,” Aboulafia stated. “They just had the second clean quarter for their defense unit, which was amazing … I have a much higher level of confidence in all of their programs, really, as a consequence of the management changes.”
Delivering the planes in the subsequent two years – which Darlene Costello, the Air Force’s performing acquisition chief, instructed was doable throughout her testimony before House lawmakers in May – would mark a major acceleration for the undertaking.
“I would not necessarily guarantee that date, but they are proposing to bring it in ’27, if we can come to agreement on the requirement changes,” Costello stated, referring to contract necessities that are being loosened to get to that earlier date – such as the Air Force “relieving” Boeing of a number of the top-clearance safety necessities for employees performing work on the plane, which has additionally been blamed for a number of the delays.
Kendall, the previous Air Force secretary, stated on the forefront of the minds of these engaged on a brand new airplane, ought to be security and safety, somewhat than price or pace.
“As Defense Department acquisition executive, I was responsible for both Marine One and Air Force One,” Kendall stated. “Over the years, the people that set the requirements for these aircraft and that work at the White House are not constrained by time or money unless directed otherwise by the president. They’re constrained by their imaginations about which scenarios might occur in which they might need something to support or protect the president. Those ‘requirements’ dictate both cost and schedule.”
NCS’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Natasha Bertrand, and Chris Isidore contributed to this report.