The United States and Qatar are days away from finalizing an agreement for a Boeing jet that will be used as Air Force One, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart earlier this month signed an agreement outlining the terms of Qatar’s “unconditional donation,” multiple outlets have reported.
The Washington Post first reported that the U.S. and Qatar are expected to finalize an agreement next week — even as the Pentagon months ago said the deal was complete — and that an outline on the terms of the deal was signed on July 7 by Hegseth and Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar’s deputy prime minister and minister of state for defense affairs.
That document states the plane is a “bona fide gift” to the Defense Department and that the U.S. will pay nothing to Qatar for its transfer.
“This donation is made in good faith and in the spirit of cooperation and mutual support between the parties,” the document states, as reported by CNN. “Nothing in this [memorandum of understanding] is, or shall be interpreted or construed as, an offer, promise, or acceptance of any form of bribery, undue influence, or corrupt practice.”
The memorandum further emphasizes the transfer of the plane is “not connected or otherwise related to any governmental decision and, as such, is not made, offered, promised or accepted because of any past, present or future official act or decision and is not intended to obtain or retain any improper advantage or to influence any official decision.”
The Hill reached out to the Pentagon, which declined to comment.
The Pentagon on May 21 announced it officially accepted the 13-year-old luxury jet previously used by the Qatari royal family, seen by President Trump as a supplement to the aging Air Force One fleet.
The controversial gift was first announced ahead of Trump’s visit to the Middle East in early May, with the commander in chief claiming that 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.
But the transfer has been heavily criticized by both Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers, who say it raises ethical and corruption questions in addition to costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit the plane into a secure and working Air Force One.
Trump has repeatedly described the plane as a “gift” and “free of charge,” but American taxpayers will still foot the bill for the Air Force to retrofit the plane, a costly process given it must be stripped nearly to the studs to install the required security and communications equipment.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink last month optimistically estimated the retrofit job will cost “less than $400 million,” but aviation experts and engineers have placed the figure at as much as $1 billion or more.
To fund the retrofit, the Air Force has plans to pull hundreds of millions of dollars from the Sentinel program — an overbudget and overschedule upgrade to America’s nuclear-equipped missiles — to an unspecified classified project believed to be the Air Force One upgrade.
The aircraft is currently sitting in San Antonio as it awaits its retrofit.
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