Conversion of luxury jet, who gave Trump into Air Force, could cost hundreds of millions

Cnn
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Conversion of a luxury jet, which is given by Qatar to President Donald Trump into a replacement for Air Force. You could possibly cost hundreds of million dollarsPresent And it could take two years to install the necessary safety equipment, communication and defense options so that the commander -in -chief, current and former civil servants are safely used, CNN.

The Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on Tuesday that the plane “has significant problems with espionage and surveillance problems”. At the aisle, the democratic Senator Jack Reed, a member of the committee for the Senate Committee, said the assumption that this would be “immense areas by granting a potential access to sensitive systems and communication in the foreign nation”.

Called Trump on Sunday in a social media post that the Department of Defense would replace a “gift free of charge from a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 -year -old Air Force One. The move would raise numerous ethics issues in view of the value of the jet, but it also raises serious questions about the security of an aircraft that could be used by the president to ensure the continuity of the government in an emergency.

It was estimated that the JET is worth 400 million US dollars, but a person who is familiar with the details of the potential plan said that the value of the Qatarian aircraft is closer to $ 250 million. According to the administrative estimates, the person could be revised about whom the person was informed and could cost up to three times as much, or more.

Even if he temporarily said, as Trump said, US agencies would have to ensure that there are no fuses of security by essentially freed the aircraft on its frame and rebuilt with the necessary communication and safety equipment.

“You want to try the plane completely – check it out, check for mistakes, such things, harden it to ensure that nobody can kidnap the electronics on the plane. The ability of the President to order and control his military in the worst days,” said one with air force one familiarly in retirement. ”

This process could take between several months and two years, said the retired high -ranking military officer CNN. Another civil servant who was familiar with the situation said that the White House is not quite aware of how much work on the jet would have to be done, which will include several secret services.

The upgrade of the Qatar jet would probably not surpass what was already output for the long-term program for the Air Force One-upgrade, but Trump made it clear that the Qatarian jet would only be a temporary solution.

Boeing has a contract of 3.9 billion US dollars to replace the two jets of the Air Force One, but already losses of a total of 2.5 billion US dollars, since it was ready to be responsible for the increasing cost overall.

Last week CNN reported that Boeing's jets could be delivered in good time by 2027 so that Trump used them to use them, according to an official of the top air weapon.

A secret service officer familiar with the situation announced that the two 747-800s ordered by Boeing, when they were ordered, were already “built”.

While the Air Force would largely monitor and rebuild the strip of the Qatarian aircraft to meet the security requirementsPresent and communication agency of the White House.

“I don't see how you can take this with an acceptable risk in a reasonable time if you can do this,” said a former official of the counterpart.

The work that is necessary to bring the luxury jet to sniff tobacco depends largely on the requirements Trump would agree. However, if the intention of having jet function as Air Force One now, it would have to be retrofitted with a number of functions, including high -proof communication systems that enable the president to access secret services and military, necessary defense systems and the ability to shield itself against an electromagnetic pulse.

A conventional 747 aircraft does not have the ability to divide the middle of the air, which would be necessary if Trump wants to stay in the air in time-for example a decisive ability in a nuclear attack.

“This is the central point of the US Nuclear Command and Control Network to ensure that we have the second strike capacity. If there are nuclear strikes and they cannot end up or if they land, they could be vulnerable because they can be seen by satellites that can stay in the air in the air,” said Stacie Pettyjohn, Director of the Defense Program in the Center for New American Security (CNAS).

The potential transfer of the Qatar Department of Defense into the US Department of Defense has also to be an active legal preference union and the Ministry of Justice and the lawyers of Qatar, which deal with the thorny legal issues.

Apart from concerns about the safety of the aircraft, it remains unclear when the jet would hand over to the USA or to what extent it is used. The officer of the secret service informed CNN that they “very doubt” that the administration takes the jet. Ali al-Ansari from Katar's media to the USA said on Sunday that the “possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as a air force” was “considered”.