Trump’s free plane is not so free

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/12/trump-qatar-air-force-one-taxpayer-costs-00342299

The aircraft would need to be torn down and rebuilt from the inside out — including overhauling electrical wiring, avionics and power systems — to install secure presidential communications, self-defense tech and electromagnetic shielding.

“The cost of a retrofit like this would likely be on the order of a heavy maintenance cycle for a VC-25A, which is in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars,” said former Air Force acquisitions chief Andrew Hunter.

Add to that the significant cost of sweeping the aircraft for software modifications or embedded foreign tech. “That’s not a trivial thing to do,” Hunter said. “That alone would cost tens of millions of dollars.”