▶ Watch Video: Qatari-gifted Air Force One to be sent off for defensive upgrades, Trump says
President Trump will continue flying in the old Air Force One while the new Air Force One, a luxury jet donated by Qatar, undergoes additional security upgrades and enhancements, the White House said Monday.
“The new Air Force One is perfectly safe for the President’s travels, but will receive additional upgrades and enhancements in the fall which will take approximately one month to complete,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to CBS. “During that time, the President will fly on the old Air Force One.”
Mr. Trump said Sunday that his new Air Force One will be sent off for defensive upgrades after some reports raised questions about its security capabilities.
“It has a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re going to send it to have it be maxed out,” Mr. Trump told reporters after attending Sunday’s World Cup final match in New Jersey. “They’re going to be sending it, and they’ll have it be maxed out. It’ll take about a month.”
Mr. Trump has flown on the new plane a handful of times since its debut in June. But after he flew in the new Air Force One to Turkey earlier this month, Mr. Trump was in the old one for part of the journey back.
The president said at the time that he was sending the new luxury jet ahead of him to allow U.S. service members stationed in England to get a chance to tour it. But sources told CBS News earlier this month that the swap was actually at the request of the U.S. Secret Service, partly because the new plane wasn’t yet equipped with the security features and systems of the original.
The older planes that serve as Air Force One have laser technology to blind an incoming missile, a system that could misdirect incoming munitions and other diversion technologies, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News at the time.
Mr. Trump didn’t specify what would be “maxed out” on the plane, but seemed to acknowledge for the first time that the new plane lacks at least some of the capacities of the previous one.
Qatar’s royal family gifted the jet to Mr. Trump last year, and he has faced criticism from lawmakers who raised both security and ethical concerns about accepting the plane. The new plane underwent approximately 10 months of work before Mr. Trump flew it for the first time on July 1.