President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he plans to send the outgoing Air Force One from Turkey to the United Kingdom "for old time's sake," and that a newly overhauled jet donated by Qatar will make a concurrent visit to the same British base, according to a post he made on Truth Social.
In his post, Trump said the renovated aircraft will stop at RAF Mildenhall so U.S. service members stationed at the base can be the first to tour the plane. The aircraft in question is a Boeing 747 that Qatar gifted to the United States last year and which was subsequently refitted by defense contractor L3Harris Technologies.
The jumbo jet was repainted in a palette of red, white, dark blue and gold that Trump selected, a visual departure from the Air Force One livery used for decades. "Everybody is so excited and we thought that they should be the first," he wrote, adding that the outgoing Air Force One would make the trip from Turkey to Mildenhall "for old time’s sake."
Officials and experts involved in the jet's acceptance have noted the retrofit required a suite of technical and defensive upgrades. That work included security enhancements, communications improvements intended to guard against eavesdropping, and the installation of missile defense capabilities, the experts said.
The announcement frames the visit as both ceremonial and practical: the newly refitted Boeing 747 will be presented to stationed personnel for tours, while the older plane will undertake a final, symbolic flight from Turkey to the same base. The post on Truth Social is the source of the president's description of the plans.
Details provided in the post and cited comments indicate that the project's scope extended beyond paint and interiors to include technical modifications intended to meet security and operational standards. The combination of communications hardening and defensive systems were singled out as necessary elements of the refit effort.
The decision to route both aircraft to RAF Mildenhall highlights military-hosted access for service members while also underscoring the procedural scrutiny that accompanied accepting and retrofitting a foreign-donated presidential aircraft.