Posted on 07/20/2026 8:23:24 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
President Trump is admitting his luxe new Air Force One plane will be taken out of service for a new round of retrofitting.
After Trump was forced to ditch the Qatar-donated jet in Turkey over concerns about its safety, he told reporters that the Boeing 747 would need to be “maxed out”, implying it must be upgraded to meet expectations to protect the commander-in-chief.
“It has a lot of capability,” Trump said. “But as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re gonna send it to have it be maxed out.”
Trump didn’t specify what upgrades are needed but the $400 million jet reportedly lacks the anti-missile defense capabilities that the older presidential jets are equipped with. He said the retrofitting would take about a month.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
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Because its got to be refitted to be a ride for the president?
To be frank I’d rather we did those refits than a foreign power.
Will the upgrades include removing all the secret devices Qatar added to the plane?
Just curious.
Oh, and I’m sure that the plane was throughly swept for such devices. But we’re talking about the POTUS here, not the executive of some candy company.
It’s not worth taking the chance.
The existing presidential aircraft is technically obsolete, and the Qatari handoff has much better overall systems but hasn’t had the active defense systems added *yet*.
Currently, because Boeing has not been able to deliver the proper replacement, the President has to select which plane better serves the situation. That doesn’t mean that taking away an option is helpful.
On second thought...
I wonder why Boeing has dropped the ball so badly on the most prestigious contract in the world. They must not mind Airbus taking markets that used to be theirs to count upon.
“Admits”?
It was free and then it needs some more work and so what.
It’s not like it was manufactured in Qatar.
It was originally manufactured in Everett, Washington, at Boeing’s wide-body assembly facility. It did undergo some interior work in Switzerland. It then underwent security upgrades by L3Harris in the United States.
Its a Boeing. It wouldnt be going to a foriegn power for the refit (unless we now consider Seattle a foreign power) :)
I remember when this was first reported a few days ago a lot of people on this site were calling it fake news.
Rumour is that Iran tried to take control of the plane in order to crash it. That’s why it is being grounded until it has been retrofitted.
A quote...
“A truth that’s told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent.”
William Blake
> It’s not like it was manufactured in Qatar. <
Right. And that’s a fair point. But allies spy on allies all the time. Plus, the refitters in Qatar certainly include at least a few clever Muslims. So now we’ve got a small but real danger factor.
Add to that the humiliation factor. The President of the United States has to rely on some small country to get a proper aircraft.
This might be unavoidable. But it’s also, at a minimum, ridiculous.
I find it hard to believe it lacks anti-missile defense capabilities. It’s something else...and the media just keeps guessing...
We owe it to President Trump to add the most up to date security systems and the most gaudy gold leafing of any jetliner on the planet.
We are doing those refits...
No, that's not the wise thing to do.
From the article:
That would be the best course of action. L3Harris will likely do the additional upgrade.
yes
thanks
I find it hard to believe it lacks anti-missile defense capabilities.
The company that did the last set of refurbishing and upgrades isn’t a company that does active military weaponry.
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