Trump says new Air Force One to be upgraded after security concerns

US President Donald Trump said Sunday his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet needed to be sent off for a month to be “maxed out,” following questions about the plane’s security features.

Trump started flying aboard the jumbo jet on July 1 after accepting the plane as a gift last year, when an accelerated effort to renovate the Boeing 747 for presidential use began.

But Trump unexpectedly ditched the plane on a flight from Turkey to the United Kingdom amid rising hostility with Iran on July 8. He flew aboard an older Air Force One to London in what he described as a move “for old time’s sake,” but later boarded the new plane to return to the US.

He also claimed he had sent the new plane on ahead from the Turkey summit to an airbase in Britain so that service members could see it.

The New York Times reported that the new plane lacked the same security countermeasures as the older model, including anti-missile defenses. The paper’s reporters were then subpoenaed by the Trump administration.

The Times has asked a court to block those orders to appear before a grand jury panel in Manhattan federal court.

“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,” Trump told reporters when asked why he was still flying on a plane without full defensive capabilities.

“So they’re going to be sending it, and they’ll have it be maxed out. It’ll take about a month.”

Trump, who was speaking after flying back to Washington from the World Cup final in New Jersey, did not give details about how the plane would be “maxed out.”

The US Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Qatar’s royal family donated the luxury airliner last year after Trump complained about the state of the two aging jets that have served as the US presidential plane since 1990.

The new plane, with red, white, dark blue and gold livery chosen by Trump, was refitted by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies.

It’s meant to serve as a temporary replacement as Boeing has struggled to deliver long-delayed next-generation Air Force One planes. Boeing is working to deliver two purpose-built 747-8s under a $3.9 billion fixed-price contract signed in 2018 that’s now four years behind schedule and over budget. Delivery of the new planes is expected in mid-2028.

The upgrades to the jet from Qatar were completed so quickly that some experts expressed concern that the plane may not be as secure as the baby blue Air Force One that preceded it. Critics have also raised a host of ethical, constitutional and security concerns about the gifting of an aircraft worth hundreds of millions of dollars by a foreign power like Qatar.