The US officially accepts the luxury aircraft offered by Qatar to be transformed into Trump's new Air Force One
Donald Trump, greeted on May 14 at the landing in Qatar by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, photo: American Photo Archive / Alamy / Profimedia
The United States has accepted a Boeing 747 aircraft, offered a Qatar gift, and the air forces were asked to quickly find a solution for its modernization, so that it could be used as the new Air Force One, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday.
According to the institution, the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, accepted the aircraft, valued at $ 400 million, to become the official plane of President Donald Trump.
The spokesman of the Pentagon, Sean Parnell, said that the Defense Department “will work to ensure that the necessary security measures and the functional requirements related to the mission are taken into account.”
Law experts have raised question marks on the application of laws regarding gifts received from foreign governments, which aim to prevent corruption and inadequate influences. Democrats have also tried to block acceptance of the plane.
Qatar rejected concerns about this transaction, and Donald Trump also rejected ethical objections, saying it would be “stupid” not to accept the plane.
According to experts, the adaptation of the luxury aircraft offered by the Royal Family in Qatar will require significant security improvements, communications systems capable of preventing interceptions and endowments to reject missile attacks. The costs of these changes could reach several hundred million dollars.
The exact costs are not known, but it could be significant, given that the current Boeing project for the construction of two new Air Force One farms exceeds $ 5 billion.
The Air Force One program has faced chronic delays in the last decade, the delivery of the two 747-8 aircraft being scheduled for 2027-three years later than the initial calendar.
In 2018, Boeing received a contract of $ 3.9 billion for the construction of the two planes for the US president, but the costs have increased in the meantime. The company also registered losses of $ 2.4 billion associated with this project.
Donald Trump is not the first president whose Qatar offered a luxury plane. What did the head of another NATO state decide when to present the controversial offer
