"'Qatar-Gifted' Presidential Jet Flawed in Renovation Driven by Trump's Pressure for Early Deployment"

It has been revealed that U.S. President Donald Trump's push for the swift deployment of a presidential jet gifted by Qatar led to rushed renovations, causing costs to skyrocket and safety features to be drastically reduced.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 25th, local time, that the modification work was carried out under an aggressive schedule due to President Trump's pressure for the early deployment of the new aircraft.

In February of last year, President Trump made an unannounced inspection of the interior of a Boeing 747-8 passenger plane at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, which had been modified for the Qatari royal family. The subsequent announcement of the donation sparked controversy over its background.

Following the president's directive to deploy the aircraft as the presidential plane in time for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States in July of this year, the White House and the Department of Defense wrapped up the renovation work in just about eight months.

However, as a result of focusing on this high-speed approach, significant loopholes were found in the aircraft's safety.

It was found that advanced infrared missile defense systems, along with lower auxiliary emergency exits and auxiliary power units applied to previous U.S. presidential aircraft, were excluded from this aircraft.

Cost issues have also come under fire.

It was confirmed that in addition to the approximately $400 million in renovation costs initially announced by the U.S. administration, an additional budget of $400 million was injected under the guise of early pilot training.

In particular, the NYT pointed out that the Department of Defense covered part of these additional costs from the budget for the nuclear force modernization project.

It was previously reported that $934 million from this project's budget was transferred to an undisclosed classified project.

In response, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy strongly criticized the move, stating, "Hiding the budget details of this project from Congress under the guise of national security is completely unacceptable."

(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.