It will “probably” cost hundreds of millions of dollars for the Pentagon to transform a luxury Qatari jet into Air Force One, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers Thursday.
Meink said it will likely cost less than $400 million to retrofit the Boeing 747 aircraft, the first price estimate given by the Trump administration since the U.S. military accepted the gift from Qatar last month.
Under questioning from Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) Meink declined to discuss details of how the plane will need to be retrofitted to become Air Force One, citing classified information, but he pushed back at reports that the transformation could cost upward of $1 billion.
“We believe the actual retrofit of that aircraft is probably less than $400 million,” Meink told the House Armed Services Committee, noting the Air Force had already accounted for spare parts.
But Courtney, pointing to the expenses to build out two Air Force One aircraft as part of a $3.9 billion contract in 2018, contended that “it’s clear that this new third plane is going to cost well over $1 billion.”
“You can’t retrofit a plane that’s built for another purpose for Air Force One and expect it to be a free plane,” he said. “You’ve got to install encrypted communications technology, you have to harden the defenses, you have to put countermeasures in there. … It’s a flying situation room.”
He added: “It’s clear that this is going to be a drain on the Air Force’s budget.”
The Pentagon announced on May 21 that it had officially accepted the 13-year-old luxury jet previously used by the Qatari royal family. The controversial gift was announced ahead of President Trump’s visit to the Middle East in early May, with the commander in chief brushing aside ethical and security concerns about receiving the jet, insisting it was “free.”
Trump has claimed the plane — one of the largest foreign gifts ever accepted by a U.S. president — can be used as a stand-in for the aging Air Force One fleet as delays continue in Boeing’s refurbishment of the two 747 aircraft purchased during Trump’s first term.
Meink acknowledged that the Air Force One program has “experienced significant delays” but that officials are working closely with Boeing to accelerate the program.
“We are doing whatever we can” to move the delivery timeline up, he told Courtney.
He also conceded that Defense officials will need to do “a deep sweep” of the Qatari aircraft to make sure it doesn’t pose a security threat.
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