President Trump's brand new luxury jet lacks certain defensive equipment, and that gap in protection is reportedly why he ended up flying home from Turkey
this week aboard an older version of Air Force One. The switch came after US officials received intelligence from Israel pointing to a possible plot against the president's life, as per a report from the Wall Street Journal. Some officials, cited in the report, cautioned that the threat wasn't seen as fully credible. Still, combined with the fact that Trump was flying close to Iran at a moment when hostilities were flaring up again, that was enough for the Secret Service, the White House's military office, and members of the national security staff to decide his new jet wasn't suited for the trip home. That preferred aircraft is the plane gifted by Qatar and later reworked by the US Air Force.
Timing Lines Up With Renewed Strikes on Iran
The decision came right after Trump ordered fresh military strikes on Iran earlier in the week, a response to Iran's attacks on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Those strikes raised worries that Iran might strike back against US allies elsewhere in the Middle East, which Iran did.Trump had flown the newer, retrofitted jet to Ankara, Turkey, for a NATO summit. But on the return trip, he didn't fly that same plane the whole way. Instead, he boarded the older Air Force One for the leg to the United Kingdom, then switched back to the newer plane for the final flight home to Washington.
Trump Pushes Back on the Security Explanation
Trump denied Wednesday that safety concerns had anything to do with the plane switch. He claimed the real reason the Qatari donated jet was headed to the UK was so troops stationed there could get a look at it. Asked directly whether he knew of any credible threat from Iran targeting Air Force One, he didn't rule it out, saying instead that he deals with threats constantly and considers himself Iran's top target.White House communications director Steven Cheung defended the newer plane's safety, saying it has been equipped with high level security protocols designed to protect the president. The New York Times had reported earlier that Trump's decision to fly on the older plane was a precautionary security move.
Questions About the New Jet's Capabilities
Air Force Gen. Dale White, who led the military's effort to convert the Qatari plane into one fit for presidential travel, said earlier this year that no shortcuts were taken with its security features. Even so, the Air Force acknowledged in a statement released in June that certain tradeoffs were made involving mission capabilities that are used less frequently. The exact defensive systems built into Air Force One remain classified, so it's not publicly known exactly what the new jet can and can't do.Qatar gave the jet to the US last year after Trump complained that the aircraft available to him as president were outdated and too small. But turning a donated plane into something capable of safely transporting a president through high risk environments is no simple task, according to former officials. Frank Kendall, who served as Air Force secretary under the Biden administration, said retrofitting a 747 with the full range of defensive systems a president needs typically takes three to four years, far longer than the time this jet has had.
