U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to the Republic of Ireland next week, and according to Washington Post sources, he plans to make the trip aboard the Boeing 747 he received as a gift from the Qatari government. The Post reports, however, that security experts remain skeptical about his use of the aircraft, which still requires further improvements. The aircraft would be used for an international trip only weeks after a reported threat prompted the president to abandon it for a return flight from Turkey.

Washington Post reporter Cat Zakrzewski explains: "The United States already has spent $400 million retrofitting the Boeing 747 from Qatar. The administration has not said how much more it will need to pay to improve the jet in the coming months. Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously told The Washington Post that the modifications would begin in the fall and take about a month to complete, but security experts have been skeptical that the necessary upgrades could be made on that fast a timeline."

Zakrzewski notes that the "gift of the plane from the Qatari government and royal family" was "an unprecedented arrangement largely intended to address" Trump's "frustration with delays in replacing the fleet of decades-old planes that are known as Air Force One when ferrying the president." The designation "Air Force One" applies to any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the sitting president, rather than to a specific plane.

"The Air Force awarded a contract to Boeing in 2017 to purchase two 747s for use as presidential transports," Zakrzewski points out. "It is not clear if they will be ready before Trump's term ends in January 2029."

According to Zakrzewski, the U.S. Government Accountability Office "has estimated that the costs to enhance the 747s now exceed $5.6 billion."

"Lawmakers have questioned why those upgrades have cost so much more than the changes made to the Qatari jet, and whether the jet is as secure as the government-purchased planes," Zakrzewski reports.

In early July, Trump began traveling on the new plane, which features a red, white and navy livery, to events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, including the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt presidential library in North Dakota. Questions about the aircraft's security emerged just weeks into its use, when the president traveled on it internationally for the first time to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. He did not take the jet on his return flight after the government received intelligence about a potential Iranian threat to attack it.

Trump, Zakrzewski reports, "initially claimed that he departed Turkey on the 'former Air Force One,' writing on social media that he took the trip for 'old time's sake' and so that U.S. troops stationed in Britain could see the former Qatari aircraft."

Source: The Washington Post