President Donald Trump flew partway home from a NATO summit in Turkey on an older Air Force One instead of the new Qatari-gifted jet, stopping at RAF Mildenhall before boarding the newer plane.
The Secret Service advised the president not to depart Ankara on the newer Qatari-gifted Air Force One, and he left aboard an older Boeing VC-25A out of an abundance of caution for a potential threat, sources familiar with the matter said.
When reporters pressed him about the swap, Trump said, "I'm their number one target." He also said, "I have a threat all the time. I'm No. 1 on their list," and declined to say that security concerns involving Iran drove the decision to switch planes.
The president posted on social media, "We just landed and met up with our new Air Force One, which was sent earlier to RAF Mildenhall, so we could show the wonderful Servicemembers, as per the entire Base’s request." He added, "They were very excited," and said stopping at Mildenhall "was on our way back to the States from Turkey, with virtually no deviation of flightpath."
Trump boarded the Qatari-gifted jet at RAF Mildenhall, and that aircraft departed for Joint Base Andrews outside Washington after he greeted service members stationed there.
The travel switch raised security questions about the Qatari-gifted plane, which the U.S. spent $400 million to retrofit, and images of the jet showed it is not equipped with some of the same missile detection and countermeasure systems as the older presidential planes.
The U.S. Air Force said the rapid conversion of the Qatari plane, also called the "Bridge" aircraft, was done "without accepting any risk regarding security, safety, or secure communications," but that "several highly complex engineering modifications required for the final (Air Force One aircraft) were intentionally excluded from the Bridge aircraft."
Steven Cheung, a spokesman, said in a statement, "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. 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."
Consumer flight trackers were unable to monitor the older jet's transponder early in the flight after takeoff, suggesting the crew temporarily disabled it — a security measure used when ferrying the president to and from high-risk environments — while other world leaders' flights remained trackable.
Iran has several missiles and drones with enough range to make the roughly 800-mile flight from its borders to Turkey, including some of its Shahed drones and Shahab ballistic missiles, while the Center for Strategic and International Studies concluded Iran does not possess weaponry capable of effectively striking England at a range of roughly 2,500 miles.
Jeremiah Gertler, a senior analyst for Teal Group, said the absence of countermeasure systems and a seemingly smaller number of communications antennas suggested the Qatari jet was better suited to only work as a domestic aircraft.
The pair of Boeing jets being modified to serve as permanent Air Force One replacements have been delayed and are expected to be delivered in 2028.
The Qatari-gifted jet was described as a Boeing 787 luxury jet donated by Qatar last year.
White House correspondent Maggie Haberman on Wednesday cast doubt on the president's explanation for returning to the older plane, calling it "a little hard to believe."