Qatari jet gifted to Trump will cost nearly $400M to retrofit for Air Force One

It may be a gift, but retrofitting the Qatari Boeing 747 gifted to President Trump

is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to transform it into Air Force One

The costs reveal coming from Air Force Secretary Troy Mink, who says he estimates the cost to

retrofit the plane will be less than $400 million. Military experts say equipping the jetliner for

the president involves a massive undertaking, including stripping the aircraft down and

installing encrypted communication channels and enhanced security features like anti-missile defense systems. Democrats have argued they believe the cost is much higher than Mink's

estimate, suggesting the cost could soar past $1 billion. But Mink insists the cost Democrats

are talking about would have been taken on by the Air Force anyway. I think there's been a number

thrown around a new order of a billion dollars. But a lot of those costs associated with that are

our costs that we have experienced anyway. We've just we will experience them early

buying additional platforms for training, for spares. Things like that are actually the majority

of that majority of that of that amount. So it wouldn't be anywhere near that. But we can talk

in details about exactly what we're buying in a different form and what the cost drivers are

But it's nowhere near that much. Democratic Representative Joe Courtney is one of those

who believes the cost could soar into the billions. Here's what he said to Mink Thursday

And I would just say, based on the experience of the 2018 planes

we know that the contract for retrofit was $3.9 billion. Again, some of that was purchase of the planes from Boeing, roughly about $800 million

But again, if you just do the math, it was about $3 billion for retrofit. There been cost overruns They had to strip those planes that were built for another purpose down to the studs I mean it clear that this new third plane is going to cost well over a billion dollars

I mean, it's just you can't retrofit a plane that's built for another purpose for Air Force One

and expect it to be a free plane. You've got to install encrypted communication technology

You have to harden the defenses. You have to put countermeasures in there. Obviously

you need to have all the, it's a flying situation. And here's Mink's response

Unfortunately, some of the, particularly some of the things you're talking about, what those costs are, those are classified sensitive capabilities that we put on the

platform. So we'd be happy to come down and talk to you about the Pacifics. But again

I restate that we believe the actual retrofit of that aircraft is actually significant. It's

probably less than $400 million to retrofit that aircraft. We'd be happy to come talk to you about

President Trump is facing criticism for accepting the $400 million luxury jetliner

but he argues that it will save taxpayers money and he will donate it to a future presidential

library after his term is over. Republicans and Democrats have raised ethical and security

concerns over the jet, and now cost appears to be the latest point of contention. Trump contends

refusing the gift would have been stupid and insists it's free. They're giving us a free jet

I could say, no, no, no, don't give us, I want to pay you a billion or 400 million or whatever it is

Or I could say, thank you very much. Trump has also expressed frustration with delays in refurbishing a pair of 747 planes to serve as Air Force One

They're not expected to be ready until the end of his term. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan

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