Funding Shift: US Moves Missile Money to Trump’s Plane
The United States has redirected part of the funding from the development of the advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) LGM-35A Sentinel to finance the modernization of a new presidential aircraft for Donald Trump.
Inside Defense reported on this, citing a senior official.
The aircraft in question is a Boeing 747-8, worth several hundred million dollars, which Qatar gifted to the United States for temporary use as Air Force One.
“During the resource reallocation process, surplus funds from the Sentinel program for fiscal year 2024 were redirected to support the presidential air transportation program,” the U.S. Air Force explained.
On May 21, the Pentagon confirmed it had officially taken delivery of the aircraft and assigned the Air Force the task of upgrading it to serve as the new Air Force One.
However, the acquisition has sparked ethical and legal concerns among the members of both the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as legal experts.
For more details about the American Air Force One fleet and the story behind Qatar’s gift of a Boeing 747-8 aircraft to former U.S. President Donald Trump, read the article on Militarnyi.
In May, it was revealed that the troubled project to develop the new intercontinental ballistic missile LGM-35A Sentinel would require the construction of new launch silos, despite initial plans to use existing infrastructure.
This will be yet another complication and cause for increased costs in the U.S. nuclear modernization program, which has already exceeded its projected budget and timeline.
