A recent $934 million transfer of funds to a Pentagon budget may hold a clue as to how much it will cost to renovate the Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar to be the next Air Force One, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
Although the actual price tag is classified information, this transfer to an unnamed classified project described in a Pentagon document sent to Capitol Hill likely includes the cost of renovating the plane.
The funds were moved to a budget dedicated to updating the nation’s ground-based nuclear missiles, and Air Force officials said that at least some of the funds for the renovations will come from the nuclear modernization project.
Among the improvements to the plane are upgrades to its communications systems and engines, as well as the addition of antimissile systems.
In addition, U.S. intelligence must identify and remove any covert surveillance devices that Qatar may have placed in the walls of the plane.
Trump said he accepted the gift from Qatar, because Boeing is years behind schedule to deliver two new planes to serve as Air Force Ones, a project that has already cost $4 billion.
Although Air Force Secretary Troy Meink testified to Congress in June that “we believe the actual retrofit of that aircraft is probably less than $400 million,” the Times said that engineers and Air Force experts familiar with this kind of work are doubtful of that figure.
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