The Trump US Air Force says $400 Million….
The two B-747’s (Russan give backs) that has been in the shop for years will cost OVER $3 Billion ….
ANYBODY think the Qatar Jet will cost Less?
Experts think it will also cost One Billion …Or?….More….
That would be US Tax payer Money…..
NOT Trump Money……
It will cost about $400 million to convert a luxury jet from Qatar into an Air Force One, the Air Force’s top civilian leader said today—a price tag far lower than previous estimates.
The Pentagon recently accepted a Boeing 747 from the Qatari government to use as a presidential jet for President Trump, a proposition that current and former Air Force officials have said could cost more than $1 billion, since it needs to be stripped to check for bugs then loaded with encrypted communications, defensive capabilities, and other classified systems.
But the Air Force “believes” it will cost “less than $400 million to retrofit that aircraft,” service secretary Troy Meink said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday. Meink said the exact cost and details are classified.
Trump’s search for an interim Air Force One stems from major delays with Boeing’s effort to build two new VC-25Bs. Trump struck a $3.9 billion deal for those jets during his first term. And based on that deal, some lawmakers argue the retrofit has to cost more than a billion.
“Based on the experience of the 2018 planes, we know that the contract for retrofit was $3.9 billion,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn. “Again, some of that was the purchase of the planes from Boeing, roughly about $800 million. But again, just do the math, it was about $3 billion for retrofit. There’s been cost overruns. They had to strip those planes that were built for another purpose down to the studs, and you said, there’s been issues. Just using that and extrapolating from that it’s clear that this new, third plane is going to cost well over a billion dollars.” …
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Meanwhile, the service is working with Boeing to speed up the delivery of the two VC-25s. Boeing has said it can push up delivery to 2027 if some program requirements are relaxed—a timeline Meink couldn’t confirm.
“Is it going to get back into [20]27? I couldn’t guarantee that but we are doing whatever we can to pull it back,” he said…..
Update om the Trump Qatar Air Force One effort….
The Air Force is using money previously given to its Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program to convert a Qatari luxury jet into an Air Force One.
“There were dollars that were removed from the Sentinel program that were access-to-need in [fiscal] 2024 and that’s what was used to fund the program. We will ensure that those resources are there,” Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers Thursday during a Senate appropriations defense subcommittee hearing.
Shifting these funds won’t further delay the Sentinel program, Meink said, which is being restructured after major delays and unforeseen costs pushed its estimated cost to nearly $141 billion—some 81 percent above initial projections. That restructuring meant the service had some money that was “early to need” that could be used to fund the conversion, Meink said.
Officials have been cagey about how much it will take to make the Qatari jet suitable for presidential use, as President Trump has ordered, and where they will get the money. Meink has previously estimated that it would cost about $400 million to do the conversion, far less than the $1 billion mark other officials have offered.