It is a game of hands that could have passed under radars. The New York Times reports that the costs associated with the modification of the Boeing 747 Qatari “offered” Donald Trump to transform it into a presidential plane could come from a expensive modernization of the land ballistic missile program.
If the US President has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the costs and deadlines for the Boeing 747-8 conversion program in presidential aircraft (estimated at more than $ 4 billion in total), it is more discreet on the modalities of the modification of the plane transferred by Qatar.
He had announced in February his desire to acquire a “temporary” plane, a 747-8 VIP of the Qatar government, a “gift” confirmed in May and a source of many controversies due to suspicions of corruption.
Transfers of communication funds and vases
According to the New York Times, the envelope assigned to this program would reach $ 934 million, as a result of a “mysterious transfer of funds” of the Nuclear Modernization Program to an unnamed classified project. The US media reports that US Air Force officials would have recognized in private that they have extracted from the funds assigned to the Sentinel program, which provides the modernization of the arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Long -term program, replacing the Minuteman III missiles with sentinels accumulate additional delays and costs. A study by the Strategic Research Foundation of 2024 reported that the unit price of missiles was anticipated at $ 162 million, against 118 in 2020. The New York Times indicates that at an initial cost of $ 77.7 billion, the cost of the program would have increased by 81% and reach 140 billion, or even more could be reviewed.
Questioned by the New York Times, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen is concerned about this decision of the Trump administration to “divert the funds from the Nuclear Modernization Budget to finance expensive renewals of this plane.”
A more expensive “gift” than expected
The Washington Post informs that the entrance protocol to transfer the Boeing 747-8 of the Qatari government to Donald Trump should be completed in the next few days, the agreement had been officially approved in early July. It provides that Qatar makes a “donation” of “donations” of the plane, which will serve as a presidential plane for Donald Trump and that he can get rid of it as he seemed to see at the end of his mandate.
Even if you are quickly received and sent on the processing site, the plane will not be ready before 2027 as very early, more or less at the same time as the first of the two aircraft converted by Boeing. Due to the modification of a line plane by the presidential plane, with everything that involves equipment related to the safety of the device, requires a heavy development work (anti -analysis -Missil and anti -Eilientomics, resistance to interference, but also medical space, kitchens, etc.).
Source: BFM TV
