Trump accepts luxury jet from Qatar as Air Force One

Cnn
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The Trump administration will accept a luxury aircraft from the Qatar Royal Family, which is equipped and used as Air Force One during the second term of office of the President, shared two people familiar with the agreement to CNN.

The news comes when President Donald Trump started on Monday on his first big trip abroad, which includes a stopover in Doha, Qatar.

In view of the massive value of a Boeing 747-8, the step is unprecedented and raises considerable ethical and legal questions. A Qatarian official said that the plane was technically released from the Qatarian Ministry of Defense to the Pentagon and describe it more as a transaction to the government to government instead of a personal one. The Ministry of Defense will then retrofit the aircraft for the use of the president with security features and changes.

It is planned that the plane will be donated to Trump's presidential library after leaving office to leave the office to ensure that he can continue to use it, according to a familiar person.

“Reports that a jet of the United States' government is inaccurate during the upcoming visit by President Trump,” said Ali al-Ansari, Katar's media suit on Sunday.

“The possible transmission of an aircraft for temporary use as Luftwaffe Eins is currently being taken into account between the Qatar Ministry and the US Department of Defense and the US Department of Defense. However, the matter will continue to be checked by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,” he said.

Within the secret service, the potential giving away of an aircraft by a foreign government for the use of the President as “Nightmare Security Nightmare”, a source for law enforcement agencies told CNN.

“The (US air weapon) would have to tear apart to search for monitoring equipment and inspect the integrity of the aircraft,” said the source.

ABC News reported for the first time about the new aircraft.

Trump and Aides visited the aircraft at the airport in Palm Beach, Florida at the beginning of this year, and a person told CNN told CNN within two years.

After his tour, Trump shaped the people around him how luxurious the plane was.

“President Trump visits a new Boeing aircraft to check the new hardware/technology,” said Steven Cheung, communication director of the White House in a statement.

Boeing has worked on renovating two 747 jets in Air Force One Aircraft of the next generation, but the process has been posted by delays. The aircraft should be delivered by 2022 and are now only expected at least 2027.

Cheung said at the beginning of this year that Trump's tour of the aircraft in Palm Beach “emphasizes the failure of the project to deliver a new air force on time, as promised because they are 5 years too late”.

Boeing's 3.9 billion dollar contract to replace the two Air Force One Jets has become an expensive and embarrassing albatross. The company has already reported losses of a total of $ 2.5 billion in the program, which is known as VC-25 billion, as it was ready to be responsible for the increasing cost overalls.

The two currently used jets that have the code letters VC-25A and bear the Air Force One name when the president has been on board for almost 35 years, starting with President George HW Bush. The replacement of the aircraft has a priority for Trump, who was deeply frustrated by the delays.

“I am not satisfied with the fact that it took so long,” said Trump reporters on board the Air Force One in February. “There is no excuse for it.” He said that he would not turn to the European rival of Boeing, Airbus, but consider to buy a used 747 and renovate another company for use as Air Force One.

The challenge is not the basic jet, but what it takes to transform an ordinary Boeing 747 into the Flying Communications and Command Post Fit for the President of the United States, Richard Aboulafia, Managing Director at Aerodynamic Advisory, an aerospace consulting company, previously towards CNN. They should be able to protect their residents from rocket attacks or even the shock waves of a nuclear explosion.

“You can have a jet at any time,” he said. “But it takes a lot of work to have communication encrypted and to manage the military and federal government among somewhere worldwide.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

Betsy Klein, Kylie Atwood, Chris Isidore and Josh Campbell contributed to this report.