America Accepts Gift of "Flying Palace" from Qatar

America Accepts Gift of "Flying Palace" from Qatar

 

America Accepts Qatar's Flying Palace Gift: Comprehensive Renovation Awaits

The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved a Boeing 747 aircraft donated by Qatar for use by President Donald Trump, once the Department of Defense upgrades it with "appropriate security" measures.

Senior Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement: "The Secretary of Defense has approved the Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal rules and regulations. The Department of Defense will ensure that appropriate security measures and operational mission requirements are considered for the aircraft to be used to transport the President of the United States."

The New York Times quoted a Pentagon spokesman as saying, "The United States has accepted the 747 as a gift from Qatar and has asked the Air Force to find a way to quickly upgrade it for use on the new presidential aircraft (Air Force One)." When asked on Wednesday about reports that the Pentagon had accepted the aircraft, Trump told reporters, "Qatar is giving the US Air Force an aircraft, right, and that's great."

The Prime Minister of Qatar told Bloomberg on Monday that "this aircraft story is a transaction between the Qatari Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense that was carried out with complete transparency and in a completely legal manner, and it is part of the cooperation we have been conducting together for decades."

On Tuesday, Air Force Secretary Troy Mink and Air Force Chief of Staff David Olfen told lawmakers that Hegseth had ordered the Air Force to begin planning to modify the aircraft. "The Secretary of Defense has ordered the Air Force to begin planning to modify the aircraft, and we are prepared to do so," Mink said.

An Air Force spokesperson told CNN that "the Air Force, at the direction of the Secretary of Defense, is preparing to award a contract to modify a Boeing 747 for VIP transportation. The details of this contract are classified." The US intelligence and security agencies tasked with modernizing the aircraft would need to strip it down to its basic structure and then rebuild it with the necessary equipment.

Officials told CNN that modifying and equipping an aircraft used by another government, even a friendly one, with the required security and communications systems is a massive undertaking, potentially taking up to two years and costing many times the value of the aircraft itself.