Topline
President Donald Trump announced that the Qatar‑gifted presidential jet will receive another round of upgrades and be “maxed out,” addressing concerns that its self‑defense capabilities, including missile‑defense systems, lag behind those of the legacy Air Force One.
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after landing at Joint Base Andrews.
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Key Facts
Upon returning to Washington after attending Sunday’s World Cup Final in New Jersey, a reporter questioned Trump about using the new jet despite its lack of antimissile defenses.
The president replied that the aircraft possesses “a lot of capability,” but that it will enter another upgrade cycle within about a month.
He added that the jet will be “maxed out” and that the retrofits are expected to take roughly a month.
Trump did not specify the exact nature of the upcoming upgrades, and it remains uncertain whether the one‑month timeline will be sufficient to bring the security systems up to the standards of older presidential planes.
It is unclear whether this means Trump will utilize the older Air Force One aircraft while the new jet undergoes retrofits.
Trump has repeatedly described the new aircraft as more luxurious than the standard Boeing presidential plane, marking the first occasion on which he acknowledged potential gaps in its security suite.
Key Background
Concerns about the safety of the Qatari‑gifted jet surfaced during its inaugural deployment as the new Air Force One earlier this month. Trump flew on the aircraft to a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, and later employed it for the return leg from Ankara to RAF Mildenhall, a U.S. Air Force base in Suffolk, England. While the president claimed the switch allowed U.S. service members at the base “a chance to tour the Aircraft,” other reports indicated the move was made at the request of the Secret Service amid heightened tensions with Iran. During the return flight from Ankara, Trump was asked whether he was aware of any credible Iranian threat to Air Force One. He responded, “Well, I have a threat all the time. I’m number one on their list, before you. But if I go, you go…Perhaps someday you want to change professions.”
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