The United States accepted a 747 passenger plane as a gift from the Catar government, and the Air Force was asked to seek to modernize it quickly so that it can be used as the new Air Force One of President Donald Trump, as confirmed on Wednesday a spokesman for the Department of Defense.
“The Secretary of Defense has accepted a Boeing 747 of Catar in accordance with all federal norms and regulations,” said Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell. “The Department of Defense will work to ensure that appropriate security measures and functional mission requirements are taken into account for an airplane used as transport of the president of the United States.”
The plane, which industry executives estimate that it is worth about US $ 200 million, will require exhaustive work before it can be considered sure enough to transport Trump, according to Pentagon officials in recent days.
“Any civil plane will require significant modifications to do so,” Troy Meink, secretary of the Air Force, said Tuesday during an appearance before the Senate. “Following the secretary’s instructions, we are prepared and we are studying right now what will be needed for that specific plane.”
Trump also confirmed the gift on Wednesday.
“They are giving a Jet to the United States Air Force, and it is a fantastic thing,” he said in the White House.
The plan has raised concern among the members of the Congress, to whom Trump worries to the Air Force to do the work so fast that they do not join enough security measures. For example, antimile defense systems or even systems to protect the plane from the electromagnetic effects of a nuclear explosion.
“If President Trump insists on turning this plane into an Air Force One reinforced before 2029, I am concerned about the pressures you can undergo to cut expenses in operational security,” said Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat by Illinois, while Meink testified.
The Pentagon has not provided an estimate of when the work could be finished on the Catarí plane, although Trump and the White House have made it clear that the president wants it soon, perhaps even by the end of the year.
“We are going to make sure to do what is necessary to guarantee the safety of the plane,” Meink said at the Senate audience. “I will be very clear and will discuss it from with the secretary to the president if necessary, if we believe there is any threat that we cannot attend.”
The gift has also raised questions from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, who worries that Qatar may be trying to improperly influence Trump, or that the plane itself can have listening devices.
The Prime Minister of Catar, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al Thani, said publicly on Monday, for the first time, that his government had approved the delivery of the plane as a gift, and rejected the idea that it was an attempt to influence the president.
“I don’t know why people think,” he said, before continuing: “That this is considered a bribe or considered as something that tastes wants to buy and influence this government. I do not honestly see any reason valid for it.”
He added: “We are a country to which he would like to have a solid association and a solid friendship, and everything we provide to any country is provided out of respect for this association and is a bilateral relationship. It is mutually beneficial to taste and for the United States.”
The new plane will be the third that adapts for use as Air Force One, replacing two aircraft that have been in operation for 35 years and have had maintenance problems.
But keeping the staff and three -aircraft team is extraordinarily expensive, about US $ 135 million a year for each plane, according to the Pentagon. And it could cost US $ 1 billion or more adapt the Catarí plane in order to leave it ready for use as Air Force One, a process that, former air force officials said, could take more time than to finish the work that Boeing is already doing to deliver the first two planes.
The delivery of the first of the Boeing aircraft is scheduled for 2027, according to the Air Force officials.
It still is not clear where the money will come from to rechipate the cold plane or to maintain and operate it, once finished. Normally, Congress reviews and approves the expense of any new Pentagon’s new program. But Trump has already shown his willingness to spend federal dollars according to the will of his government, often without consulting Congress.
The leader of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, Republican for South Dakota, said this month that Congress would formulate questions about any possible use of the Catarí plane such as Air Force One.
“Yes and at the time when I stop being a hypothesis, I can assure you that any possible agreement will be thoroughly examined,” said Thune.
The Senator for New York Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democratic minority, also announced on Wednesday his intention to boost the approval of a bill that prevents the United States from accepting the gift. The Senate, he said in a statement, had to “give priority to our national security, protect Americans and ensure that a foreign property plane never receives the ‘Air Force One’ indicative.”
The Catarí plane made its first flight in 2012, and was then renewed with a luxury interior for the members of the Catar Royal Family. But the government has been trying to sell the plane about five years.
An agent of an airline declared The New York Times that it cost him a lot to find a buyer, since 747 aircraft, which are no longer manufactured, are expensive to operate. Even the heads of state use more and more bimotor planes, unlike 747, which has four engines, said the agent.
Marc J. Foulkrod, Executive Director of Avjet Global Sales, who tried to help selling the plane, said it would be better for the United States to collaborate with Boeing to accelerate his work in the contract of US $ 3,900 million to deliver the two 747 aircraft in which he has already been working during the last five years.
“I have completed large airplanes and there are always ways to accelerate the program,” Foulkrod said in an interview. “That is a better return in dollars than trying to get a plane from another.”
The Catarí aircraft, as shown in the flight records, has been in San Antonio since the beginning of last month in aircraft maintenance facilities. Trump government officials have said that they are considering the possibility of resorting to L3harris, a military contractor, to take care of modernization, but no formal contract has been made public, at least so far.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Air Force said it is preparing “the award of a contract to modify a Boeing 747 plane for executive air transport. Details related to the contract are classified.”
Congress has not yet formally voted for the acceptance of the plane as a catar gift. The Constitution demands that the Congress give its approval to any important gift made to the President. Trump has said that the gift is for the United States government, not for him as president.
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Trump’s comments on the plane occurred on Wednesday during a meeting with the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.
“I’m sorry not having a plane to give,” Ramaphosa told Trump.