The newest Air Force One, a 35-year-old modified Boeing 747, has been flying, but its ability to deal with all the threats a president faces is being scrutinized. The plane was converted on an unusually compressed timeline, raising questions about whether it received the necessary communications, security, and defensive upgrades.

Security Upgrades in Question

Several Republican senators have expressed misgivings about accepting the plane, pointing to potential security and legal risks. The accelerated conversion has led some aviation and security experts to question whether every critical upgrade was completed before the aircraft entered presidential service.

The White House has not publicly detailed the defensive upgrades but said the changes were focused on essential systems and not cosmetic updates. However, some experts are concerned about how the roughly year-long effort to modify the aircraft may not have been sufficient to fully harden it for operations in high-threat airspace.

The new plane lacks aerial refueling, a capability that makes the range the old plane can fly practically unlimited. The older planes are also believed to carry chaff, bundles of metallic strips shot out of the aircraft to create false radar targets and confuse radar-guided missiles.

Expert Concerns

Frank Kendall, the former Air Force secretary under the Biden administration, estimates that the Qatari jet would have needed three to four years of modifications to meet the same standards as the older Boeing 747s. "I think in all three of those areas: the life support, the commander in chief support, the comms, and the security side, they probably did less by a substantial amount than a full-up Air Force One," Kendall said.

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.