Air Force secretary says converting Qatari 747 ‘probably’ less than $400M
The cost of retrofitting the Qatari 747 and converting into an Air Force One is “probably less than $400 million” the Air Force secretary told the House Armed Services Committee Thursday.
Troy Meink told the committee that “part of upgrading it is essentially doing a deep sweep to make sure that there's no counterintelligence threats on the platform.”
Meink also said that estimates that the retrofitting might cost $1 billion were too high and it “wouldn’t be anywhere near that.”

“I think there has been a number thrown around on the order of $1 billion, but a lot of those costs associated with that are costs that we'd have experienced anyway,” he explained.
He said the majority of that figure includes “buying additional platforms for training, for spares, things like that are actually the majority of that amount,” Meink told the committee.
A top Air Force official said last month the two replacement 747s being built by Boeing might be available as early as 2027 if certain security adjustments were made. Meink said Thursday he could not guarantee they could be ready by that date. “We're working with the contractor to pull it back. I think 27 is going to be really tough.”
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez







