It will come out of the Military budget. Hegseth is right on it. It might be ready in time for Trump to retire and they have to tear out all the secret military and security equipment.
Decommissioning the jet as Air Force One, but keeping it flyable so that it can be "donated" to Donald Trump's presidential library and flown there, will cost a fortune we don't have to spend. Plus, Boeing will have to develop and test a process to do it. Going from a 747-8 to a VC-25B is already something we need and already something Boeing is already doing. Literally the only reason we would contemplate turning a VC-25B
back into a 747-8 is so that Trump gets to keep it.
Pres. Trump complains that the current VC-25B program is taking too long. Very well, it is indeed overschedule. One-off airplane modifications according to one-off requirement sets are known to do that. And Boeing is gonna Boeing it all up anyway, so this is really nothing surprising. The current VC-25B program takes two as-built 747-8 airframes and modifies them to meet the Air Force requirements for carrying the President. I'm struggling to see how we gain anything by taking a Qatari 747-8i and—drum roll, please—modifying it to meet the Air Force requirements for carrying the President. And it's not like we are going to stop building the upcoming VC-25Bs; we need something for Pres. Trump's successor to fly in after he takes his toys and goes home at the end of his term.
So Option 1 is:
1. Pay to continue modifying two already-procured 747-8s to become VC-25Bs.
Option 2 seems to be:
1. Pay to continue modifying two already-procured 747-8s, because we still need them.
2. Pay to modify an additional 747-8i to meet VC-25B requirements, but using a modified process that facilitates elimination of trojan horses.
3. Pay to decomission the VC-25B at the end of the Trump presidency.
Seems like Option 2 would cost the taxpayers roughly twice as much as Option 1, plus Donald Trump gets a free airplane.
I recommend we call their bluff. Give Donald Trump his airplane for his library, but only as a static, non-flyable display trucked there in pieces and assembled onsite. If Donald Trump wants a flyable 747-8i, he can pay out of his pocket to make it flyable again. And he has to put up a bond for the decomissioning costs.
Alford defends Trump accepting a luxury plane from Qatar: "Look, President Trump is frustrated that he's flying around in the 40 year old plane..."
But poor Sally only gets two dollies.