Topline
President Donald Trump on Sunday said the Qatar-gifted presidential jet will undergo another set of upgrades and be “maxed out”, amid concerns about the plane’s self-defense capabilities—including on-board missile defense systems—not being on par with the older Air Force One jets.
Key Facts
As he returned to Washington after attending Sunday’s World Cup Final game in New Jersey, a reporter asked Trump why he was flying on board the new jet despite it not having “antimissile defense systems.”
The president responded, saying the plane has a “lot of capability,” but in about a month, it will go in for another set of upgrades.
Trump added that the jet will get “maxed out” and he expects the process to take “about a month.”
The president didn’t specify what these new “maxed out” upgrades will include, and it’s unclear whether the one-month timeline is adequate to bring the jet’s security systems up to par with the older presidential planes.
It is unclear whether this means Trump will travel aboard the older Air Force One planes while the new plane undergoes retrofits.
Trump has repeatedly touted the new plane as being more luxurious than the standard Boeing presidential plane, but this is the first time he has acknowledged that the Qatari-gifted plane may lack all the necessary security measures.
Key Background
Concerns about the safety of the new Qatar-gifted jet first emerged during its international debut as the new Air Force One earlier this month. Trump had flown on board the plane to attend a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, but he flew the first half of his return leg from Ankara to RAF Mildenhall, a U.S. Air Force base in Suffolk, England, on board the new Air Force One. While the president insisted that the switch was done to allow U.S. service members stationed at the base “a chance to tour the Aircraft,” reports suggested that it was done at the request of the Secret Service amid a renewed conflict with Iran. While flying back from Ankara, Trump was asked if he was aware of “any credible threat by Iran to Air Force One.” The president told the reporter, “Well, I have a threat all the time. I’m number one on their list, before you. But if I go, you go…Perhaps someday you want to change professions.”
Tangent
Last week, the New York Times and its reporters were subpoenaed by the Trump administration after its reporting on the new plane noted that it lacked the same advanced defensive countermeasures as the older presidential jets. The subpoenas seek to compel the Times’ reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this week. The Times reported that they had been contacted by a senior FBI official to withhold publication of the story, citing national security issues, but they refused to explain the security issue when asked.
further reading
Trump Switches Back To Qatari Plane After Leaving Turkey On Old Air Force One (Forbes)