Trump wanted 2 next-gen Air Force Ones as part of his 'legacy' but the paint scheme could be a security threat
Former President Donald Trump sat down with National Geographic before leaving office to talk about the two new Air Force Ones he helped design, calling it a part of his "legacy." Trump's design for the new planes included a red, white and blue color scheme, however, an Air Force official said that the aircraft's Navy blue belly could pose a security threat.
National Geographic's one-hour documentary, 'The New Air Force One: Flying Fortress' premiered on January 18 and featured an inside look at the two new Air Force One planes and "follows the classified mission to create the new presidential aircraft and provides an inside look at the cutting-edge engineering and technology that transforms the plane into a top-secret, highly secured command center."
The new Air Force Ones are expected to take flight only in 2024, replacing the previous aircraft that have been in use since former President George HW Bush's time in office. Trump said that the Air Force One “serves as a command center because we have so military equipment and other things on — equipment that I don’t even talk about." He said that the new Air Force One has "absolutely finer systems, state of the art."
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He said in the interview for the documentary, "I view this as something to do with legacy. Every time I look at it I'll say, 'I had a lot to do with that.' Just, really, a representation of our great country."
Trump recalled in the documentary, "The first time I came onto Air Force One was a big moment, frankly, in my life because over the years it has meant so much. t's so important as a symbol, a symbol of power and strength, a symbol of the presidency, it's a magnificent plane, it's something that's just very, very special."
He remained fixated on the planes throughout his time in the office, spending a significant amount of time working on the new ones coming in the future. Contrarily, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that President Joe Biden "has not spent a moment" thinking about the color scheme of the aircraft, saying, "I can confirm for you here, the president has not spent a moment thinking about the color scheme of Air Force One or anything in the House or any article of anything. And no one is going to submit a decision memo to him on that particular topic."
The current color scheme of blue and white was designed by the late President John F Kennedy and his wife, Jackie Kennedy. However, Trump was not satisfied with it, telling Fox News as reported by AP, “The baby blue doesn’t fit with us."He also said, "I like the concept of red, white and blue and the classic, and I think it’s going to look much better actually."
Trump proposed using the colors of the American flag -- the top half of the aircraft would be white, the bottom half would be dark blue, including the belly, and the blue and white parts would be separated by a bold red stripe streaking from the cockpit to tail across the midsection -- almost identical to the color scheme on Trump's personal plane, except that the white and blue are reversed.
However, the proposed design is not a done deal. The final say would belong to the current President, Biden, and AP reported that Democratic lawmakers wanted congressional approval of the new paint job.
Moreover, Trump's color choices could pose a security threat, with Alex Major, co-head of the McCarter & English government contracts practice and a retired Air Force intelligence officer, telling AP that a darker belly would not be “visually benign” and could make it easier to detect Air Force One in the sky. “When you have a light blue belly, it’s there for a reason,” Major said.