Donald Trump acknowledged on Sunday that the Boeing jet given to him by Qatar cannot match the defensive armor of a true presidential aircraft, telling reporters it will soon be grounded and “maxed out” with the protections it was never built with.
The admission came as Trump touched down in Washington on the jet, fresh off a trip to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he handed the World Cup trophy to Spain alongside Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, after the tournament’s climactic final.
Trump explains upcoming upgrades
Asked by the reporter pool travelling with the president why he continues to fly on an aircraft that lacks anti-missile defenses, Trump explained that upgrades were coming soon.
“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,” Trump said. “So they’re going to be sending it, and they’ll have it be maxed out. It’ll take about a month.”
There was no clarification or further detail on the scope of the planned work.
Background on the Qatari jet
The comments follow reporting by the New York Times this month that found the roughly 14-year-old Boeing 747-8 – the “palace in the sky” donated by Qatar’s royal family and valued at close to $400m – lacks defensive systems fitted to the purpose-built Air Force One fleet, including infrared countermeasures to divert heat-seeking missiles and sensors to detect incoming launches.
Unlike the decades-old VC-25A aircraft that have long served presidents, the Qatari jet was not built from the outset for hardening against electromagnetic pulses or equipped with the secure communications systems needed to run the government during a crisis. Officials have cast it as a stopgap while two newly ordered Boeing jets, delayed by roughly four years, are completed.
Security concerns and press freedom
Trump flew the jet to Turkey for a Nato summit earlier this month but switched to an older, more heavily defended aircraft for the return leg amid rising tensions with Iran, reportedly on the advice of the Secret Service.
The disclosure has also inflamed a separate fight over press freedom. Days after the Times story ran, FBI agents showed up at the homes of several of its reporters to hand-deliver grand jury subpoenas, a case that would attempt to reveal the outlet’s sources for the story, though the Times has since moved to have the subpoenas thrown out.
Ethics and cost concerns
The jet’s acceptance has drawn scrutiny from ethics watchdogs and congressional Democrats, who argue that a foreign government’s gift of an aircraft Trump intends to keep for his presidential library after leaving office raises constitutional concerns under the emoluments clause. The justice department under Pam Bondi, the former attorney general, approved the arrangement in 2025.
The air force has estimated retrofit costs at under $400m, though it remains unclear whether the further upgrades Trump referenced on Sunday fall within that figure or represent an additional phase of work.
