By Mike Stone, David Shepardson and Tim Hepher
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Boeing 747 jet offered to President Donald Trump by Qatar as a temporary flying White House might need fighter jet escorts and could be restricted to flying inside the U.S. unless significant costly security upgrades were made, aviation experts and industry sources said.
Even if numerous improvements to the plane’s communications and defenses are made over the coming months once any deal is completed, the military escort and domestic restriction could remain in place, the experts and sources said.
As the commander-in-chief, however, Trump could waive any and all requirements like these, a former Air Force official noted.
Retrofitting the luxury plane offered by Qatar’s royal family would require security upgrades, communications improvements to prevent spies from listening in and the ability to fend off incoming missiles, experts said. The costs were not known, but could be significant given Boeing’s current effort to build two new Air Force One planes exceeds $5 billion.
The Air Force referred a request for comment to the White House, which did not have an immediate comment.
There are serious questions about whether any combination of fighter escorts and short-term upgrades would be enough to provide sufficient protection for the president.
“I don’t think it’s possible,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Defense and Security Department, referring to short timeline for the deep modifications.
“Air Force One is designed to be survivable in all kinds of environments, including a nuclear war,” he added, noting the jet’s ability to tolerate the electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear blast is embedded in the jet’s wiring and systems from the bottom up. “That’s not something you add on.”
Trump has dismissed criticism of his widely-reported plan to accept the 13-year-old airplane with a $400 million list price, saying it would be “stupid” to turn down the offer.
Trump also called it a practical decision, and that he was disappointed Boeing had taken so long to deliver on already delayed contracts for the two new Air Force One planes that he renegotiated during his first term.
“If he wants it, and he says ‘I’ll accept any risk associated with not having all the stuff the real Air Force One has,’ he can do that,” the former Air Force official said.
While Air Force One does not normally fly with fighter escorts, the new plane may need them to defend against missile threats, the former official added.
An escort could be necessary because the Qatari plane “wouldn’t have the electronic warfare and missile warning systems and whatever else you associate with survivability on Air Force One,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory.
He added international travel may be off-limits because “you can’t guarantee the level of security in international airspace or airports.”
Air Force One almost never requires fighter escorts because it is equipped with a range of advanced defensive systems including flares, electronic jammers and infrared detection systems that protect against missile strikes.
Escorts sometimes fly with the jet when it is overseas, or in moments of national security risk such as after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The government has tapped L3Harris Technologies to overhaul the 747 as it waits for delivery of the two delayed new Air Force One aircraft from Boeing.
Other upgrades could include a communications suite that can handle sensitive White House and aircraft crew functions, and changing the interior so it can support Trump, his staff, the Secret Service and the press, said Douglas Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Under any scenario, the U.S. military would need to install new security features and potentially new wiring before the plane was used to transport Trump, experts say.
DELAYS
First mooted a decade ago, the Air Force One program has faced chronic delays, with the delivery of two new 747-8s slated for 2027, three years behind the previous schedule.
Boeing in 2018 received a $3.9 billion contract to build the two planes for use as Air Force One and costs have since risen to at least $4.7 billion. Boeing has also posted $2.4 billion of charges from the project.
Those jets were themselves originally intended for a foreign airline, Russian carrier Transaero, which went bankrupt in 2015. Using existing airframes was meant to reduce costs but Boeing has since taken billions of dollars in charges because the costs to retrofit the plane have far exceeded the contract price.
In February, Trump toured a Boeing 747-8 built for Qatar to highlight the delays.
The White House said at the time that the visit allowed him to “check out the new hardware/technology,” without elaborating.
The aircraft was originally operated by state-owned VIP airline Qatar Amiri flight, which performs private flights for members of the country’s ruling family and other government officials, according to specialist databases.
It was reported sold in 2023 to Global Jet Isle of Man, a private charter firm that has declined to comment on the jet.
There are also questions over the $400 million value widely placed on the jet, based on new prices for the aircraft, which halted production in 2023.
Analysts Cirium said a second-hand 747-8 might fetch a quarter of that, while a trader in VIP jets said the bespoke interior would be worth much more than the plane itself.
(Reporting by Mike Stone and David Shepardson in Washington, Tim Hepher in Paris and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Chris Sanders and Jamie Freed)
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