New Design of Future Presidential Aircraft (2026)

 

New Air Force One (2026)
SAM (Special Air Missions)  99-0003, a US Air Force VC25B
Type Of Activity	Presidential Transport
Location
Location	Joint Base Andrews
Date of Activity	Unknown delivery
Coordinates	33°40′34″N 117°43′52″W

A new chapter in the history of Air Force One is underway. The U.S. Air Force has announced that its new VC-25B "Bridge" aircraft has arrived at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, home of the Presidential Airlift Group, and has begun a series of commissioning flights—the final step before the aircraft can be certified to transport the President of the United States.

The U.S. Air Force has officially welcomed the new VC-25B "Bridge" aircraft to the Presidential Airlift Group, where it will undergo a final round of initial commissioning flights to validate its mission capabilities and safety protocols.       The retrofitted Boeing 747-8 set to become the next Air Force One is about to enter service. The aircraft is expected to make its inaugural flight on Wednesday, July 1, with a trip to North Dakota for the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, part of the nation's 250th anniversary events. Converted in just ten months from a Boeing 747-8i originally gifted by the Emir of Qatar, this interim Air Force One platform features President Trump's preferred red, white, and blue livery replacing the 60-year-old Kennedy-era baby blue scheme and boasts advanced communication setups including Starlink, alongside high-end protective defense mechanisms.

While the aircraft will soon begin flying presidential missions as the largest and longest-range Air Force One variant to date, it is intended as a temporary bridge to augment the executive fleet alongside the existing VC-25A and C-32 fleets until Boeing delivers the long-delayed, permanently configured VC-25B models. 

Air Force One is getting a MAJOR makeover! Take a look at this side-by-side comparison. The iconic blue-and-white Air Force One we’ve seen for decades is being replaced by this bold red, white, and blue design. But here’s what most people don’t realize… The new Air Force One isn’t just a paint job. It’s based on the larger Boeing 747-8, making it about 20 feet longer than the current VC-25A aircraft.

Freshly painted in a striking red, white, and blue livery, the modified Boeing 747-8 will serve as an interim presidential aircraft. Its mission is to relieve the growing operational burden on the two aging VC-25A aircraft that have served as Air Force One since 1990. As those aircraft require increasingly lengthy maintenance periods, the new VC-25B will help ensure uninterrupted presidential airlift capability until Boeing delivers the purpose-built next-generation VC-25Bs later this decade.

Commissioning flights will serve as the final phase of testing, allowing the White House and military officials to evaluate the aircraft's capabilities and certify procedures needed to safely transport the president.

The Air Force describes the commissioning flights as the aircraft's “final exam.” During this rigorous testing phase, aircrews, maintenance personnel, and White House support teams verify that every system is fully mission-capable and that all procedures required for presidential travel are in place. Upon successful completion, the aircraft will officially join the executive airlift fleet alongside the current VC-25As and the smaller C-32 aircraft.

“The safety and security of the commander in chief is our highest priority,” said Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink. Air Force Chief of Staff General Ken Wilsbach emphasized the significance of the achievement, stating, “Many thought it could not be done, but the United States Air Force was able to execute and provide a secure, reliable airborne command post on an accelerated timeline.”

While the VC-25B "Bridge" aircraft is intended as a temporary solution, its arrival marks an important milestone in the continuing evolution of presidential airlift. As the iconic VC-25As approach four decades of service, the new aircraft will help ensure that the President retains access to a secure, dependable, and fully capable flying White House wherever duty calls.

Trump confirmed that he would be taking the new jet to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, in July and indicated he would be returning to China "at some point," presumably a reference to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that China is hosting in November. His return from the Group of 7 summit in France this week was the last planned trip aboard the old Air Force One, he said.

After a U.S. Air Force tail number 99-0003 emerged with a fresh paint scheme which was spotted departing Greenville Majors Airport, where the fleet regularly receives maintenance, upgrades, and overhauls from L3Harris—replacing the long-standing egg-blue and white livery—U.S. government sources confirmed the design, originally proposed by Donald Trump, will become the standard for American VIP aircraft, including those used as Air Force One.

The New Design for AF-1           

The paint scheme is based on the one unveiled by President Trump in 2019, during his first term. It was designated under that administration as the new livery for the VC-25B aircraft that will in the future serve as the primary ‘Air Force One’ aircraft, but this decision was later overturned by President Biden’s administration. No definitive comment had been made so far in Trump’s second administration to say that the decision would be reversed again

                                               President Trump showing off a model of AF-1 with the new paint scheme

Changes From the Original 2019 Concept

Compared with the initial proposal, several updates are visible. The U.S. flag on the tail now appears in a “waving” style rather than the flat format used on the current VC-25A. This treatment also appeared on the newly repainted C-32A and on Trump’s privately owned Boeing 757.

The New Design for AF-1

The engines, previously depicted in dark blue, are now white. The change likely reflects heat-management concerns around sensitive equipment such as antennas and defensive systems, though final details will only be clear once the aircraft is completed.

The old paint scheme proposed for the new AF-1

The Interim 747

An interim presidential aircraft—registration N7478D, formerly operated by the Qatari royal family—is also expected to receive the new scheme. Because the VC-25B’s service entry has slipped from 2024 to roughly 2028, this converted jet may be the only 747 in the colors flown during Trump’s presidency.

The U.S. Air Force expects the Boeing 747 gifted by the government of Qatar to begin flying as an interim Air Force One (the callsign used when the U.S. President is on board) as early as summer 2026. Officially designated as “VC-25 bridge aircraft,” the 747 is intended to temporarily supplement the aging VC-25A fleet while the long-delayed VC-25B replacement program continues to slip.

Configuration differences between the interim aircraft and the VC-25B remain unclear, but both will lack the aerial refueling capability of the VC-25A fleet. Publicly, that capability has never been used operationally and was reportedly considered too risky even during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. For training, crews instead maintain proficiency aboard the Boeing E-4B Nightwatch.

While a certain level of advanced communications and self-defense capability will be required regardless, it’s unlikely that the interim aircraft will come close to meeting the standards of the VC-25B in these areas. Some have raised the notion that the interim aircraft may only serve Presidential travel within the United States, to mitigate the potential effects of any shortfalls in capability. Overseas trips would, until replacements are ready, continue to be flown by the venerable VC-25As.

That arrangement would preserve flight hours on the aging aircraft—especially useful given frequent presidential travel to Mar-a-Lago and incidents such as the January diversion to Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF). The President was quickly transferred from the VC-25A, which had reportedly suffered a “minor electrical issue”, to a C-32A to resume his journey. 

Presidential Communications on Air Force One

For obvious security reasons, exact technical details on Presidential communications are difficult to come by in the public domain. We do know that the U.S. Air Force upgraded some of the phone systems on board its VIP aircraft fleet in the early 2010s, replacing the well-known white and beige twin phone handset system that dated from the 1980s. The white phones were used for unsecure lines, while beige handsets could be used for secure calls.

The President has also been pictured making use of Cisco VoIP (voice over internet protocol) office-style phones on board both VC-25 and C-32 aircraft. These phones were implemented throughout the White House and associated Presidential locations, including aircraft, in the 2000s in a technical refresh, but were used alongside the existing white and beige phones rather than in place of them.

   Old white (non-secure) and beige (secure) phones aboard Air Force One in 2009, along with a Cisco VoIP phone

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The new phones installed in this upgrade were an L-3 Communications product branded Airborne Executive Phone (AEP), and these phones have been shown continuing in use with the Obama administration. The handsets can be connected to both secured and unsecured lines, with a built in LED and display showing color indicators denoting which type of call is currently in progress – red for secured, green for unsecured

The secure link used by the AEP is also provided by L-3, via the Global Secure Information Management System (GSIMS). The GSIMS is essentially a bunch of modules that integrate various inputs (analog radio, digital radio, internet data access) into a single IP-based system that's managed from a workstation (pictured above). Exact details on how the GSIMS keeps data secure is (obviously) hard to come by. We can take an educated guess, though: There'll be another GSIMS (or similar compatible system) at the receiving end, and between them they will provide Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) through lots of encryption.

L-3 GSIMS operators console

Finally, you might be wondering why a non-secure mode exists at all. Surely the President and his staff want to always be secure, but for a secure line to exist both callers need to be using a secure phone. If you tried to call a non-secure phone from a secure phone, all you'd hear is encrypted  unreadable sounds.

On February 26, 2009, President Obama was photographed conducting an interview while using an Airborne Executive Phone (AEP) handset aboard Air Force One. The AEP system, installed as part of a communications upgrade to the presidential aircraft fleet in the early 2010s, features handsets that can access both secure and unsecure lines.

New AEP phone on Air Force One. Note the red LED on the handset

An integrated LED and display indicate the type of line in use—red for secured calls and green for unsecured calls—ensuring clear communication protocols for sensitive conversations. 

The presence of this advanced technology on Air Force One underscores the importance of secure and reliable communications for the President during official travel.