President Donald Trump is teaching car enthusiasts around the world by example. If you have a new project car, you should have a reliable daily to fall back on should the worst happen. Trump stated on Sunday that the Boeing VC-25B Bridge will be out of service for “about a month.” Earlier this month, he had flown home from a NATO summit in Turkey on an older Boeing VC-25A because the new Qatari-gifted aircraft allegedly lacked the appropriate missile countermeasures.
Trump initially claimed the plane swap was to allow the VC-25B Bridge to visit air bases in Europe so stationed U.S. Air Force personnel could tour the aircraft. However, the New York Times reported that the Secret Service advised the President not to fly the new plane, citing security concerns. When questioned in Turkey about a potential threat, he answered, “I’m number one of the kill list for Iran.” When asked on Sunday about why he’s continuing to fly the VC-25 Bridge despite its lack of anti-missile defenses, Trump replied:
“Well, it has — it has a lot, and you know it has a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re going to send it to have it be maxed out. So they’re going to be sending it, and they’ll have it be maxed out.”
$1 billion spent on this plane and it still needs to be maxed out
Using the phrase “maxed out” when talking about a Boeing aircraft probably isn’t the best choice of words, but I’m sure Trump doesn’t want to shower an American neighborhood in Air Force One parts. Just the prospect of retrofitting this aircraft again raises numerous concerns. After the Qatari royal family donated the Boeing 747 to the Trump administration, the White House spent $1 billion for L3Harris to modify the plane for service. If $1 billion was spent on classified upgrades but somehow didn’t include anti-missile countermeasures, what was that money spent on exactly?
It should be noted that L3Harris turned around the VC-25B Bridge for service worryingly too fast. There was less than a year from initial transfer to its inaugural flight this month. The aircraft is referred to as “Bridge” for a reason. Trump was desperate to fly on a new Air Force One before he left office, but delays with the actual VC-25B jeopardized that prospect. There was also the cherry on top: the Bridge plane will be donated to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation by the end of 2028.
