Trump Says Qatari-Donated Air Force One Will Soon Get More Upgrades

The president said the aircraft will be ’maxed out,' amid questions about its defensive capabilities.

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, MARYLAND - JUNE 19: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks after touring the newest aircraft in the presidential fleet at Andrews Air Force Base on June 19, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. The Qatari royal family gifted the lavish $400 million, 13-year-old Boeing 747-8 to the U.S. Air Force to be used as the new Air Force One. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump has said that the luxury Boeing jet donated by Qatar and now serving as a temporary Air Force One will soon undergo additional upgrades, amid questions about whether the aircraft has the same defensive capabilities as the older presidential jet.

Trump made the remarks on July 19 after returning to Washington from the FIFA World Cup final in New Jersey aboard the Boeing 747-8 that he accepted as a gift from the Qatari government in 2025 and unveiled last month at Joint Base Andrews in a new hangar specially built to house what he described as “the world’s most luxurious plane.”

The president began flying aboard the refurbished jet on July 1, following an accelerated effort to prepare the roughly 14-year-old aircraft for presidential use.

A reporter traveling with the presidential motorcade asked Trump about the plane’s security features, specifically about whether it had been fitted with anti-missile defense systems.

“It has a lot of capability,” Trump replied. “But as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re going to send it to have it be maxed out—it’ll take about a month.”

The aircraft has a red, white, dark blue, and gold paint scheme chosen by Trump and was refitted by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies.

The White House has described the jet as a temporary replacement while Boeing completes two purpose-built presidential aircraft that have been delayed by years.

Security Questions

The New York Times reported earlier in July—citing anonymous sources—that the Qatari-donated jet lacked some of the defensive countermeasures installed on the older Air Force One aircraft, including antimissile capabilities.

Planes built specifically for presidential use are designed to function as flying command centers, equipped with secure communications and defensive systems, including wiring hardened to withstand an electromagnetic pulse that could result from a nuclear attack.

The White House has disputed suggestions that the newly refurbished jet is unsafe.

“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said earlier this month.

The Qatari jet was refurbished on an accelerated timeline, prompting questions about whether it could match all the capabilities of the existing fleet.

In May, about a year after Trump first revealed that the government of Qatar would be donating the plane, the U.S. Air Force announced that the aircraft had completed all the necessary modifications and flight tests.

“This collective team did what many said couldn’t be done, and they did it with the safety, security, and gravity of the mission at the forefront of everything they did,” the Department of War’s reporting portfolio manager, Gen. Dale White, said in a statement at the time.

The interim aircraft is intended to bridge the gap until Boeing delivers two new 747-8 jets being built specifically for presidential use.

Questions about the Qatari aircraft’s capabilities intensified after Trump switched to an older Air Force One while traveling from a NATO summit in Turkey to the UK on July 8, then switched to the new aircraft for the return flight to the United States.

The White House said the switch was part of a security strategy following threats against the president amid renewed fighting between the United States and Iran.

“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal—including distraction and misdirection—to address those threats,” Cheung said at the time.

Trump had said that he was at the top of Iran’s list of assassination targets.