Transforming a Qatari luxury Boeing 747 jet into Air Force One will “probably” cost less than $400 million, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers on Thursday.
“I think there has been a number thrown around, on the order of a billion dollars, but a lot of those costs associated with that are costs that we would’ve experienced anyway,” he said in a House Armed Services Committee hearing, adding that this included other platforms for training and spares.
“It’s probably less than $400 million to retrofit that aircraft.”
The Pentagon in late May accepted the jetliner as a gift from the government of Qatar.
At the time, Meink said it would take extensive work before it can be considered secure enough to carry Trump.
“Any civilian aircraft will take significant modifications to do so,” he told senators at the time. “Based on the secretary’s direction, we are postured and we’re off looking at that right now, what it’s going to take for that particular aircraft.”
The gift has drawn questions from Democrats and Republicans in Congress.
Trump has defended it as a way to save tax dollars.
“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,” Trump posted on his social media site during his recent Middle East trip.
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