The U.S. Air Force said Friday that the new VC-25B Bridge, the aircraft intended to serve as President Donald Trump’s presidential plane, arrived at Joint Base Andrews and has begun final certification flights before entering operational service. The jet, described as the “flying palace,” is meant to temporarily replace the aging VC-25A Air Force One fleet until Boeing completes the next presidential aircraft program.
Once the certification flights are finished, the plane will be available to carry the U.S. president as part of the presidential fleet. The Air Force said the aircraft was fitted with the most advanced communications and security systems required for presidential missions, and said the project is designed to ensure operational and security continuity for the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces.
The aircraft is widely referred to as the “Qatari gift.” During remarks aboard the plane, Trump addressed Iran’s ballistic missile negotiations, saying, “Now we have an agreement signed last night, and the sides have 60 days to reach a final agreement, otherwise we will do things they will not be very happy about. But I don’t think it will come to that.”
The arrangement has raised legal and ethical questions because of the unprecedented value of the gift from a foreign power. A year ago, reports said ownership would transfer when Trump’s term ends to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation. According to ABC, lawyers from the White House counsel’s office and the Justice Department prepared a memo for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying the Pentagon may accept the aircraft as a gift and later transfer it to Trump’s library, and that this would not violate bribery laws or the constitutional ban on officials accepting gifts from “any King, Prince or foreign State.”
