Not Mission Capable: The Flaws In Trump’s Interim Air Force One

Despite the White House denials, the refurbished luxury airliner President Trump is now using as Air Force One likely lacks some of the more robust security measures and countermeasures of the older VC-25A planes. Earlier I wrote about how President Trump was taking his Qatari-gifted interim (or bridge) Air Force One on first official flight for the Fourth of July “250th” celebrations.

He first flew to the festivities at Mt Rushmore, South Dakota, on July 3, where the jet was photographed majestically flying over the monument.

The next day, the Fourth, Trump took the almost brand-new Boeing 747-8 worth at least $400 million donated by the Qatari royal family on a flight leading a massive military flyover D.C., providing another amazing photo opportunity.

The plane is stunning, modern, spacious, and luxurious. And I do love the bold dark blue, red, white, and gold color scheme for its new livery. However, as I have repeatedly noted over the past year, it is likely not a fully mission-capable presidential aircraft. This is partly due to it not being custom-built from the ground up as a presidential aircraft, and partly due to the compressed timeline to refurbish it.

Instead of taking a couple of years, they did it in under 10 months.

And this may have become painfully clear just days later during Trump’s recent overseas flight to Turkey for a NATO summit. While he flew in on the new jet, the Secret Service urged him to fly back to the U.K. aboard the older Air Force One aircraft, ostensibly for security reasons being so close to Iran.

This is something I have previously noted. In my earlier piece, I wrote that:

The luxury jet was overhauled by defense contractor L3Harris working 24-hour shifts, and retrofitted with security upgrades, secure communications and missile defenses. While any potential threats from the previously owned aircraft have [reportedly] been “neutralized.”

[However] Some experts say due to the accelerated conversion the new plane may not match the full security capabilities of the current Air Force One fleet, perhaps limiting its use to domestic travel.

In other pieces I wrote months back, I also surmised that the new plane would not be used for overseas travel where security was a major concern. This is why I was surprised to see the plane being used on an overseas trip so close to a war zone.

And I wasn’t the only one. Frank Kendall, the former Air Force secretary who was in charge of the department as it dealt with Boeing to deliver the two new long-delayed Air Force One planes, said: “Frankly, I’m surprised to see this plane used outside the U.S.”

While Trump and the White House rejected any security factors for the change in aircraft, the Air Force and some officials were less persuasive.

In a statement on June 19, the Air Force said: “No risk was taken in security, safety or mission communications.” However, it added: “But the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years.”

Since most details related to Air Force One are classified, the Air Force would not say what it meant by “less commonly used mission sets.” However, some experts believe that refers to certain combat scenarios where active aerial countermeasures may be needed.

According to The New York Times, officials familiar with the retrofit said the donated aircraft lacks some of the sophisticated countermeasures found on the existing Air Force One, including an advanced directional missile-defense system to defeat heat-seeking missiles.

Astute observers have noted that different parts of that defensive systems are visible on the old Air Force One, under the wing of the plane and on its tail cone but they are not observable in photographs of the new Qatari plane.

CBS News specifically reported the older aircraft is equipped with laser technology and other systems designed to defeat incoming missiles and may be absent on the Qatari-donated jet.

The older planes are also believed to carry aerial flares to divert heat seeking missiles, and chaff, bundles of metallic strips shot out of the aircraft to confuse radar-guided missiles, as well as advanced integrated electronic warfare countermeasures.

And, as CNN reported, special antennas are also critical to ensure the plane’s encrypted communications are secure, Kendall said, adding, “You have to basically do structural changes to put the antennas in. Some of that, I’m sure they did. I’m not sure how much.”

It’s also not clear what kind of defense in case of nuclear attacks and associated electromagnetic pulses (EMP) hardening the new jets have compared to the old ones which were designed during the Cold War and had those defenses built into the plane from the beginning.

Finally, Air Force One typically also includes a medical suite that can function as an operating room, and a doctor is permanently on board, but not much has been said about this capability onboard the new Qatari-gifted plane.

“I think in all three of those areas: the life support, the commander in chief support, the comms, and the security side, they probably did less by a substantial amount than a full-up Air Force One,” Kendall said.

President Trump seemed to acknowledge the threat of attack, saying Air Force One could be a “dangerous plane because of the sleaze bags we have to deal with,” Trump said shortly after takeoff on the old jet. “These are sick people, so I could see something like that.”

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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