The $400M Boeing 747 gifted to the US by Qatar has had another $400M spent by America overhauling it to become interim Air Force One

The US Secret Service and the Air Force are making fast progress converting the Boeing 747 donated by Qatar into the ad-interim Air Force One.

But speed comes at a price.

So far, the US has reportedly already spent around $400 million.

But there’s something Air Force officials said that’s quite interesting.

Why the US spent $400 million just to get started

The craziest part about this bill is that the US basically spent $400 million just to get started on this ‘project.’

So far, the US – specifically the US Air Force and the US Secret Service – mostly focused on security.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the aircraft’s interior was taken apart bit by bit for two reasons.

The first reason was structural integrity.

The Air Force just wanted to make sure all systems were good to go and structurally sound.

The second, and perhaps most obvious reason, was security.

The government wanted to rule out the presence of hidden surveillance devices, bugs, and so on.

“This is going to be an airplane that’s going to carry the president of the United States. We did not take any shortcuts as it relates to making sure security was exactly what it needed to be,” Gen. Dale White, the four-star Air Force officer tasked with the high-profile project last year, said in the interview with WSJ.

“The level of detail that the foreign nations put into their head-of-state airplanes is very different than the approach that the United States uses, which is a lot more utility focused,” White added.

But, interestingly, Air Force officials who spoke to The Wall Street Journal confirmed that, at least for now, there are no plans to overhaul the interior cosmetically.

The Air Force confirmed the interior will remain largely the same

“By and large, the airplane that we’re getting is in the same condition from an interior perspective.”

POTUS didn’t provide the Air Force with any direction on the interior and so the only change, for now, concerns the Arabic-language exit signs, which will be replaced by English-language ones for obvious reasons.

However, White did say that POTUS wants the exterior of the plane to be painted white, red, and blue – the colors of the US flag.

Below: this is what the plane will look like when it’s ready

Why the US will use Qatar’s Boeing 747 as ‘ad interim’ Air Force One

The US Secret Service is currently using two Boeing 747s as Air Force One, but these planes are old (nearly 40 years) and they cost a fortune to operate.

The problem is that VC-25B – the Air Force One replacement – is taking longer than expected, and it’s costing more than expected.

For this reason, Qatar’s gift came in handy, and the timing was great.

Pictured below: one of the two Boeing 747-8I part of the VC-25B program

In the big scheme of things, spending close to 10 figures on this existing plane – sometimes known as ‘VC-25B Bridge Aircraft’ – makes sense.

Once the security modifications are done, the interior and the engine won’t need much work.

As crazy as it sounds, the US Secret Service is actually ‘saving’ money where it can.

White confirmed that the ad-interim Air Force One will have some non-crucial limitations.

For example, it only has one set of air stairs, mainly because adding self-deploying stairs would involve ‘significant structural changes’.

Also, it apparently has fewer refrigerators, meaning logistical support will have to carry food.

It also won’t have a dedicated press cabin.

In the world of politics, the word ‘temporary’ is used quite loosely.

So, once it’s ready, whether the new ad-interim Air Force One will remain in service for a year or 10 remains to be seen.