Latest news with #747-8i
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Plans To Modify Qatari 747 Into Air Force One Now Being Drawn Up By USAF
The U.S. Air Force is now actively exploring what it would take to turn an already heavily-modified 747-8i airliner from Qatar into a platform that can meet extremely stringent requirements to serve in the Air Force One role. President Donald Trump's administration confirmed earlier this month that it has been in talks with Qatari authorities about receiving the jet, which has been valued at roughly $400 million, ostensibly as a gift. TWZ has already highlighted serious questions about the feasibility of converting the Qatari jet into an 'interim' Air Force One, especially before the end of Trump's second term in 2029, as you can read more about here. Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, who was sworn in just on May 16, and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force Gen. David Allvin answered questions about the potential of turning the Qatari 747-8i into an Air Force One presidential aircraft from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee today. 'As you know, any platform used for presidential travel must be fully secure, survivable – and this is the important part – capable of supporting uninterrupted command and control under the most demanding conditions, including in the event of a nuclear crisis,' Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said in the lead-in to a question for Meink and Allvin about the proposed conversion. 'This isn't just about ensuring presidential protection, though that is very important. This is about our national security and protecting all Americans from the dangers posed if the President's sensitive communications are intercepted, or if he is out of contact, God forbid, with our nation's military during a crisis.' 'Secretary Meink, General Allvin, do you concur that the upgrades required for a foreign-provided plane to meet the operational security standards of Air Force One would be significant?' she asked. 'So, the Secretary of Defense [Pete Hegseth] has directed the Air Force to basically start planning to modify the aircraft,' Secretary Meink said in response to a question from Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat. 'We will have to look at all of those issues you just addressed in those modifications.' Gen. Allvin responded that he was in alignment with Secretary Meink's position. 'Any civilian aircraft will take significant modifications to' to turn it into a suitable Air Force One, Meink after further questioning. 'As I said, we're asked, based on [the Defense] Secretary's direction, we are postured, and we're off looking at that right now, what it's going to take for that particular aircraft.' It is worth noting that Boeing is already in the process of converting two other 747-8is originally built as commercial airliners into new VC-25B Air Force One aircraft. However, those aircraft were never delivered to their intended customer and are not as heavily modified to start as the Qatari 747-8i in question. Boeing stopped producing 747s entirely in 2022. Work on the VC-25Bs has been repeatedly delayed, which has been a key contributing factor in the emergence of the general idea of an 'interim' Air Force One since Trump took office in January. Sen. Duckworth also raised concerns 'that requirements have been loosened' to try to accelerate work on VC-25Bs. Secretary Meink said he was unaware of any such changes to the Air Force One requirements, but noted he has only been in his current post since last week. There are certainly differences in the requirements for the VC-25Bs compared to the existing VC-25A Air Force One jets, which are based on older 747-200 aircraft. Most notably, the replacement presidential planes will not be able to refuel in flight, at least as far as is currently known, something that was previously seen as a vital feature, especially in the event of a severe contingency. 'Do I have your commitment that you would advise the President not to reduce any requirements that will lower operational security for any aircraft to be used as Air Force One?' Duckworth asked Meink. 'I will be quite clear and discuss that with Secretary [of Defense], up to the President if necessary, if we feel there's any threats that we are unable to address,' Meink said. As TWZ has already noted, converting any aircraft into one that is secure enough to provide safe transport for the President of the United States, as well as allow for constant communication, including if they need to order a nuclear strike, is an extremely complex process. The aircraft has to be physically hardened inside and out against a plethora of threats, from the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear weapon going off to incoming surface-to-air missiles to enemy intelligence-gathering efforts. This, in turn, requires significant modifications right down to the aircraft's core structure. As is highlighted by the tight controls around sourcing spares for the existing VC-25As, there are specific processes around vetting individual parts to protect against espionage and sabotage. There is the possibility that the Qatari 747-8i could end up being used as a source of spare parts for the future VC-25Bs, as well as the 747-based E-4C Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) strategic command post aircraft the Air Force is also acquiring. Whether the Qatari 'gift' of the 747-8i to the Trump Administration even goes through in the end remains to be seen, given a host of additional legal and ethical hurdles and concerns. At the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing just today, Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, asked Secretary Meink and Gen. Allvin about whether they were aware of a request from Qatar to buy F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and implied the possibility of a quid pro quo exchange. Meink took the question for the record to respond to later. CNN did also report yesterday, citing anonymous sources, that President Trump's administration had reached out to Qatar first about acquiring the 747-8i before the government in Doha had proposed offering it as a gift. Whatever the case, the Air Force is now at least looking into what specifically would be needed to turn the Qatari royal jet into a new Air Force One. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Turning Qatar's Gifted 747 Into Air Force One Will Be Anything But Free
Saying only a 'stupid person' would turn down a free, highly-modified 747-8i airliner, President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his justification for receiving a donated jet from Qatar to serve as a presidential plane until Boeing completes delivery of two future VC-25B Air Force One aircraft. However, the deal being negotiated raises a number of glaring questions. Ethical and legal concerns over Qatar's 'gifting' of the jet have already been highlighted across the mainstream media. But the question of whether the very luxurious aircraft, supposedly worth $400 million, will meet even stripped-down operational and security requirements for transporting a sitting U.S. president is just as pressing. The actual price of making this interim Air Force One aircraft happen is another unanswered question — it will be far from free — as is the supposed timeline for realizing it. Finally, Qatar has actually gifted a luxurious 747 to a key ally before, an act that also raised a lot of eyebrows. Regardless, just getting any 747-8i in the USAF's hands could be a good thing, even if it never actually flies in its intended role. '…if we can get a 747, as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they're building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture,' Trump told reporters at the White House Monday morning. 'Now, I could be a stupid person to say, 'Oh no, we don't want a free plane. We'll give free things. Then we'll take one too, and it helps us out, because, again, we're talking about we have 40-year-old aircraft. The money we spend, the maintenance we spend on those planes to keep them tippy-top, is astronomical. You wouldn't believe it. So I think it's a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much.' The President also pushed back on concerns that accepting the jet would be a conflict of interest. More from Trump explaining the luxury 747 jet gift from Qatar. — Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) May 12, 2025 White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously said that any donation would meet all legal requirements for accepting such an offer. KILMEADE: Do you worry that if they Qataris give us something like this that they'll want something in return?LEAVITT: Absolutely not, because they know President Trump and they know he only works with the interests of the American public in mind — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 12, 2025 Trump's comments today came in response to an ABC News report that he will use the aircraft as his presidential plane until shortly before he leaves office in January 2029, when ownership will be transferred to the foundation overseeing his yet-to-be-built presidential library. 'I thought it was a great gesture, and it's something that was done by Ronald Reagan,' Trump said of the donation offer and subsequent plans for the aircraft after he leaves office. 'They actually decommissioned the plane, and he put it in this library, and it actually has made the library – I think a Boeing 707 – it's actually made the library more successful.' It's worth noting that the VC-137 that sits in the Reagan Library served for decades across multiple administrations, and had used up its service life. It was not procured by a single president and retired at the end of their term to serve as a display piece in their library. Trump added that his presidential library would maintain possession of the aircraft, which he would not use after his presidency expires. The idea of an 'interim' presidential aircraft stems from delays in the current effort to replace the two current VC-25As — the oldest of which has been flying for 35 years — which are based on the 747-200 model. The VC-25B program traces its roots back to the late 2000s, and then-President-Elect Donald Trump had previously called for its cancellation back in 2017. 747-200s in any configuration have all but disappeared from the skies, meaning finding parts and general support for the type is getting harder and more expensive with each passing year. The USAF also flies four E-4B airborne command post aircraft based on the same design, which are in the process of being replaced themselves by a larger number of 747-8is. Trump noted the maintenance issues during his Monday press conference. 'The money we spend, the maintenance we spend on those planes to keep them tippy-top, is astronomical,' Trump said without offering specifics. 'You wouldn't believe it.' The VC-25As are the most expensive aircraft to fly in the USAF's portfolio, costing roughly $178,000 per hour based on numbers from four years ago. That price has only gone up, likely significantly. The designated replacements for these jets, known as Air Force One when the president is aboard, are the two VC-25Bs that Boeing is converting from 747-8i airliners, as you can read more about here. The conversion process has taken far longer than initially anticipated, with estimates that the new jets would not be ready until 2029, after Trump leaves office. However, a top Air Force official testified last week that the flying branch is working with the White House and Boeing to speed things up. 'Recent estimates that we've gotten from Boeing show a significant improvement in that date,' Darlene Costello, the Air Force's acting acquisitions chief, testified before the House Armed Services Committee. 'We are looking at the requirements that are being potentially traded off to get to that date. And so I would not necessarily guarantee that date, but they're proposing to bring it into [20]27 if we can come to an agreement on the requirements changes that can get us to that point…We're working with the White House on what's acceptable from a capability standpoint for those aircraft, and we'll refine the date accordingly.' The Air Force has 'also relieved some of the security requirements for construction, for a production facility for a period of time,' Costello added. 'It will not be a permanent relief, but that has enabled Boeing to be more efficient and productive in assembling the aircraft and doing, getting their mechanics to do the work, but we're down to a few remaining issues that we have to work through, and we will hope to close out in the very near future and then we will have, I believe, a better estimate on the schedule.' In her written testimony, Costello chalked up the delays to 'interiors supplier transition, manpower limitations, and wiring design completion.' 'We are committed to replacing the 35-year-old VC-25A with reliable air transport equipped with communications capability and security equal to that of the White House,' Costello wrote. All these delays have led to Boeing recording losses of more than $2 billion on the program, the contract for which was negotiated on a fixed-price basis. The aircraft, which were obtained second-hand, were already slated to be the most expensive fixed-wing aircraft ever built, when you factor in the total program cost. Converting any aircraft to one that will allow a president safe travel, with highly secure communications and the ability to conduct continuity of government operations in the event of a major contingency, including a nuclear exchange, is a very complex process. Earlier this year, reports were circulating on how Trump was looking at alternative options for the next Air Force One, including how he had reportedly inspected the former Qatari jet at Palm Beach International, Florida. As you can read about in this previous in-depth piece, the 12-year-old aircraft belonged to the ruling family of Qatar, but was subsequently marketed for sale. No buyers have come taken the Jumbo Jet, with its equally supersized operational costs, on. According to a report from business news channel CNBC, L3Harris Technologies is set to work on modifications to the former Qatari 747. The company on Monday declined to comment. As we previously reported about efforts to speed up delivery of the VC-25Bs, Elon Musk's visit to the Boeing facility in San Antonio, Texas, last December gave an indication of what this process might look like. In an interview with CNBC to discuss another disastrous quarter for Boeing's financial results in January, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg acknowledged that the company had talked with Musk. 'The president wants the airplane sooner, and so we're working with Elon and the team to figure what can we do to pull up the schedule of that aircraft,' Ortberg told CNBC. He called the talks with Musk 'constructive.' In addition to complaining about the former security clearance concerns, Musk reportedly also criticized the amount of time built into the program for flight testing. 'The idea was that we could just strip out a lot of the military stuff, just give the president a good-looking new airplane to fly in with commercial capabilities and maybe some minimal military upgrades,' an unnamed former Pentagon official told The New York Times, after Musk's apparent visit to Boeing in San Antonio. Boeing CEO 'embracing' Elon Musk's help with VC-25B Air Force One replacement — FlightGlobal (@FlightGlobal) February 21, 2025 The Air Force, White House, and Boeing declined comment on Monday on the compromises being discussed to move the VC-25B program along at a faster pace. The Pentagon deferred questions about the Qatari jet to the White House. It's one thing to hasten the conversion process. It is quite something else to ensure that the end product will meet the strict requirements for keeping the president connected, including with the National Command Authority (NCA), even in a dire crisis. The ability for the president to connect with the NCA anywhere and at any time underpins the credibility of America's nuclear deterrent. It is not seen as a negotiable item in terms of requirements. Hardening the aircraft from the electromagnetic effects of nuclear explosions, defending it against a multitude of threats — especially surface-to-air missiles — and playing a role in the critical 'continuity of government' mission are all aspects of Air Force One's requirements. Many secondary modifications, including vast power generation capabilities and structural tweaks, are needed to integrate these and other features. The ultra-luxurious Boeing 747-8, which former U.S. President Donald Trump is set to receive as a gift from the Qatari emir's family, is poised to become the most valuable present ever given to the United States by a foreign experts estimate the… — Savchenko Volodymyr (@SavchenkoReview) May 12, 2025 As we have addressed before, the ex-Qatari 747-8i is nowhere close to being suited for fulfilling these demanding requirements as it sits. And while the aircraft has a very impressive and expensive 'royal flight' interior, creature comforts are just one element of what makes Air Force One accomplish its mission. With that in mind, while the aircraft may be free, the cost to modify it into the Air Force One role, even in a stripped-down manner, would be far more than its supposed (and inflated) $400M 'retail' price tag. All these systems, once fully integrated, would also need to be tested, which goes beyond typical flight testing. Much of the interior will need to be ripped out and reinstalled to accomplish the necessary modifications. All this would be done for a one-off aircraft with an extremely limited service life. Accomplishing this quickly just so Trump can use it for a couple of years — if that is even possible, which it likely is not — makes little logical sense. Then there is the risk taken on by drastically reducing requirements for this interim aircraft, which is a whole other issue, that will be defined by its final configuration. Maybe they jet could be relegated to domestic, lower-risk travels, but then the question goes back to what is the point? On the other hand, with the 747 now well out of production, getting a 'free' spare airframe that be stripped for parts to support not just the future VC-25B fleet but also the larger fleet of at least four (and likely more) E-4C Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft the USAF is now in the process of converting would be a very good thing. Ultimately, however, as president, it will be up to Trump to decide what the security, safety, and communications requirements will be for any new Air Force One. Trump's interest in modifying the VC-25B program dates back to his first term, when he wanted to see the aircraft wear an entirely new red, white, and blue livery. That change was ultimately cancelled by the Biden administration. 'The Air Force previously displayed a red, white, and blue livery for the VC-25B because it had been publicly expressed as a preferred livery in 2019. A thermal study later concluded the dark blue in the design would require additional Federal Aviation Administration qualification testing for several commercial components due to the added heat in certain environments,' the Air Force's press release explained about the change away from Trump's proposed scheme. 'Everything has its time and place. We'll be changing the colors,' Trump told reporters while aboard one of the existing VC-25As on January 25. So far, there has been no official request by Trump to reintroduce his preferred livery, an Air Force official told us. As with the other issues, what the new planes will look like is up to the ongoing negotiations between the Air Force, the White House, and Boeing. In addition, although the VC-25Bs will be more capable in almost every way, some features once seen as critical have already been dropped, despite these aircraft having a massive multi-billion-dollar price tag. The ability for the jets to refuel in the air, previously viewed as extremely important for dealing with a dire contingency, will not be a feature on the VC-25Bs, as least as far as we still know at this time. As noted earlier, this isn't the first time Qatar gifted a fully converted royal 747-8i to another nation. In 2018, we were the first to report that Turkish President Recep Erdogan was given the sister ship to the 747-8i that Trump is now so interested in. That deal also raised concerns at the time, but in the end the Jumbo Jet is now flying in Turkish colors. As for Qatar's stance on the status of the luxury 747 in question, its possible transfer to the U.S. for temporary use as Air Force One 'is currently under consideration between Qatar's Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,' Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar's Media Attaché to the United States, told Politico. Though Trump is heading to the Middle East, where he will meet with Qatari officials, the White House pushed back against assertions that the president will close the deal on the jet. 'It is true Qatar has offered to donate a plane to the Department of Defense, but the gift will NOT be presented nor accepted this week while in Qatar,' a U.S. official told The War Zone. Contact the author: howard@
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Mulls Options To Accelerate Delivery Of Air Force One Jets
President Donald Trump appears to be looking at alternative options for the next Air Force One presidential jet, which has seen its delivery date potentially pushed beyond 2029. As well as recently inspecting a Boeing 747-8 once belonging to the ruling family of Qatar, Trump is reportedly looking into ways of speeding the delivery of the two future VC-25B presidential aircraft, including relaxing security clearances for those working on the jets. The two VC-25Bs are being converted from 747-8i airliners, as you can read more about here. They are due to replace the two existing VC-25As, the first of which entered service in 1990. The VC-25As are based on older 747-200s that are increasingly challenging to support. The 747-8i was the final airliner variant of Boeing's iconic 747 aircraft and production of the 747 series, as a whole, came to an end for good in December 2022. This means that the new Air Force One presidential jets have to be converted from existing, second-hand airframes, which brings its own set of problems. The final deal for the new Air Force Ones was negotiated under the previous Trump administration, but the process has been far from smooth since then. Last summer, the first flight of the VC-25B was pushed back to March 2026, a delay of 16 months. On top of years of delays, Boeing has recorded over $2 billion in losses on the program, the contract for which was negotiated on a fixed-price basis. Already staggeringly expensive, the new Air Force One program will cost around $4.7 billion for the jets alone, making them the most expensive aircraft ever built. Adding the ancillary costs, including an enormous new hangar at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, with a price tag of around $250 million, provides a total program cost of around $5.3 billion. This is taking into account the much-publicized claims by President Trump that he personally slashed the cost of the jets, although that is debatable. According to Breaking Defense, the Air Force was, as of mid-December, 'still working to validate the schedule' for delivery. This schedule should be completed this spring. The Air Force will then 'conduct a schedule risk assessment to inform establishing revised' dates for key milestones, including delivery dates and operational capability. Earlier this week, it was revealed that the VC-25Bs may not be delivered until 2029 or even later — this would mean Trump would not get the opportunity to fly in the aircraft before the end of his second term in office. At one time, the first aircraft had been slated for delivery in December 2024, but Boeing then pushed that back until at least 2027 or 2028. This latest delay was confirmed to Reuters by a White House official, who cited supply chain issues and changing requirements as the reasons. They said that the delay could actually stretch 'years beyond' 2029. The official pointed to problems in acquiring components for the aircraft since some of the manufacturers had gone out of business. At the same time, they noted that some requirements have been revised based on 'evolving potential threats,' according to the report. 'Clearly, the president would like the airplane earlier, and so we're working to see what could be done to accomplish that,' Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said last month. Since taking office, it seems that Trump, frustrated by the mounting delays, might have taken a more direct approach, including engaging his close ally Elon Musk. At the end of last month, Boeing's Ortberg told CNBC that 'we're working with Elon to see what can we do to pull up the schedule.' In remarks today, Ortberg added: 'Elon Musk is actually helping us a lot in working through the requirements … so that we can move faster and get the president those airplanes delivered.' More details of some of the options Trump and Musk might be looking at emerged today in a report from The New York Times, which cites five unnamed people with knowledge of the discussions. The most radical option in that report involves 'relaxing security clearance standards for some who work on the presidential planes.' This would mean that Boeing could engage workers for the VC-25B that don't have the currently required high-level Yankee White security clearance, the same that military personnel would need for interaction with the president or the vice president. Reportedly, officials are only looking at relaxing the clearance for employees not involved in most secure parts. Nevertheless, the implications of such a move, were it to happen, would be significant. After all, every aspect of the Air Force One platforms is closely tailored to ensure the highest levels of security, befitting its mission, including as an airborne command center. While it's claimed that Boeing officials consider that relaxing some security clearance standards is possible, for certain types of workers, anything that could compromise the safety of the president — and the security of the United States — would clearly be unacceptable. Musk is reportedly also critical of the amount of time built into the program for flight testing. Again, however, any move that could compromise the safety requirements for Air Force One is hardly likely to be palatable, especially when the net gain might only be getting it into service several months earlier. Reportedly, Musk visited the Boeing facility in San Antonio, Texas, last December, intending to find ways to accelerate the production of the VC-25Bs. 'The idea was that we could just strip out a lot of the military stuff, just give the president a good-looking new airplane to fly in with commercial capabilities and maybe some minimal military upgrades,' an unnamed former Pentagon official told The New York Times. While that would certainly be feasible, the end result would most not fit the Air Force One requirements, including playing its part in the critical 'continuity of government' mission — which you can read about in-depth here — and operating in the most demanding situations, including a nuclear apocalypse. As well as being hardened against the effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP), it's also worth bearing in mind that the VC-25s are equipped with extremely elaborate communications systems and the most capable single self-defense suite against man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), as well as some other threats, found anywhere on the planet. The article also states that consideration is being given to acquiring another airframe, which would be refitted at short notice and then used as an interim transport until the VC-25Bs are ready. This would be the 747-8 that Trump toured at Palm Beach International, Florida, on Saturday. This 12-year-old aircraft previously belonged to the ruling family of Qatar but was subsequently refurbished and is now privately owned. You can read all about it in this previous in-depth piece. Trump tours Boeing plane to highlight aircraft maker's delay in delivering a new Air Force One — New York Post (@nypost) February 16, 2025 Last week, President Trump toured a Boeing 747-8 in West Palm Beach amid ongoing delays and cost concerns over the new Air Force One aircraft, P4-HBJ (SN 37075), belongs to the Qatar Royal Family. It arrived from Doha and returned there shortly after the tour. — Jack Sweeney (@Jxck_Sweeney) February 17, 2025 The White House said that Trump wanted to look at the ex-Qatari jet to see 'how everything was configured,' in relation to the new VC-25Bs, although The New York Times suggests that the president might actually want the Air Force to buy it. If that were the case, it is extremely questionable whether the ex-Qatari 747-8 would offer anything like a practical solution — especially the reported aspiration to have the jet retrofitted for the Air Force service 'within a year's time.' After all, even for interim service, the aircraft would still require extensive conversion work followed by certification and it's far from clear how all this could be achieved in such a short timeframe — let alone, why it would be significantly easier than is the case with the VC-25Bs. Were the ex-Qatari 747-8 somehow rushed into service in a more basic configuration that would be achieved quicker, it would leave the Air Force with a non-standard presidential fleet once the VC-25Bs finally arrive. It may also be the case that Trump's visit to the ex-Qatari jet was more about providing Boeing with a very obvious signal that the high-stakes Air Force One program is very much in his sights. Another proposition could involve canceling Boeing's Air Force One contract altogether and handing the work over to another contractor. The most obvious would be Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), which has been contracted to deliver a fleet of highly specialized Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) aircraft. These will replace the Air Force's aging 747-200-based E-4B Nightwatch 'doomsday planes.' However, while Trump has been repeatedly critical of Boeing's business practice in the past, such a radical move at this stage would likely also not get the new Air Force Ones into service any quicker. Whatever happens next, Boeing's VC-25B effort has become something of a lesson in how not to run an Air Force acquisition program. Already, there have been issues with security clearance lapses for workers involved in the program and the discovery of empty liquor bottles in one of the airframes. There have also been tiny cracks discovered in the aircraft's structures, requiring repairs. One of the biggest stories surrounding the new Air Force One jets is their paint scheme. Trump wants to get rid of the classic design that is steeped in Kennedy-era history and replace it with his own red, white and blue look. It's possible that if the jets get pushed nearly into 2030, he will not get to make this decision. It's only the delays in the program that put the Air Force One paint job question back in his lap after being elected to his second term. Whether it's discussions about the colors of their livery, or much more dramatic changes to the aircraft and their capabilities, the new Air Force One program has never been far from controversy. However, it's already clear that, under the Trump administration, these high-profile aircraft will be under even closer scrutiny. Contact the author: thomas@
