Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers on Thursday that it will “probably” cost the Air Force less than $400 million to retrofit a luxury Qatari plane that President Donald Trump has said he is getting from the Qataris as a gift to use as the new Air Force One.
Meink was grilled about the plane’s cost by Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney during a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee.
“You can’t retrofit a plane that is built for another purpose for Air Force One and expect it to be a free plane,” the Connecticut congressman said, adding that the Qatari plane will require encrypted communications technology, hardened defenses and countermeasures. “It’s clear that this is going to be a drain on the Air Force’s budget.”
Meink would not discuss details of how the plane will need to be retrofitted, noting that much of that information is classified. But he said estimates that it will cost over $1 billion are high, and that “we believe the actual retrofit of the aircraft is probably less than $400 million.”
The Pentagon announced last month that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had accepted the Boeing 747 from Qatar that Trump will use once the Pentagon upgrades it to include “proper security measures and functional-mission requirements.”
A the time, a person familiar with the discussions, however, countered that the deal had not yet been finalized and that the talks between the legal teams are ongoing.
The aircraft is currently parked in San Antonio awaiting upgrades, and the Air Force told CNN last month that “as directed by the Secretary of Defense, the Air Force is preparing to award a contract to modify a Boeing 747 aircraft for executive airlift. Details related to the contract are classified.”
Retrofitting and installing the required security and communications equipment on a second-hand plane from another government, even a friendly one, is a monumental task, CNN has reported. US spy and security agencies tasked with the overhaul will need to essentially strip the aircraft down to its frame and rebuild it with the necessary equipment.
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