President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the new Air Force One will make a stop at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom so U.S. service members stationed there can tour the aircraft following its first overseas trip in presidential service.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "To honor our brave men and women of the Military, we are sending the brand new, and truly spectacular, Air Force One to Mildenhall Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom, to give them a chance to tour the Aircraft — Everybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first. For old time's sake, we'll be taking the former Air Force One, from Turkey to Mildenhall, a short trip that is totally worth doing in order to give our Great Military Heroes a chance to appreciate our beautiful new addition to the Air Force Fleet!"
Trump said the new aircraft will fly to RAF Mildenhall after departing Turkey, while he will make the short trip aboard the previous Air Force One so troops at the base can tour the new presidential aircraft.
The new Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747-8 donated to the United States by Qatar and converted for presidential use after undergoing extensive security, communications, and other mission-specific upgrades.
Trump first flew aboard the aircraft on July 1, and it has since been used for presidential travel, including his trip to Turkey for the NATO summit.
The aircraft is serving as an interim presidential jet while Boeing continues work on the next generation of Air Force One aircraft.
The visit comes as Pentagon planning documents show the U.S. military intends to invest about $1.1 billion in upgrades at RAF Mildenhall, one of the United States' largest installations in the United Kingdom, reports The Guardian.
According to documents presented by the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center and budget materials submitted to Congress, an unspecified portion of that funding will be used to construct purpose-built facilities for U.S. special operations aviation units based at Mildenhall.
The new facilities are intended to consolidate aircraft used by those units into a single location, allowing them to respond more quickly during crises, according to the planning documents.
The special operations forces stationed at the base conduct missions that include transporting personnel into what the Pentagon describes as "hostile, denied and/or politically sensitive territories" across Europe and Africa.
RAF Mildenhall, home to about 4,000 U.S. military personnel, also served as a key aerial refueling hub during U.S. military operations involving Iran earlier this year.
The Mildenhall project is part of a broader U.S. military construction program in the United Kingdom.
Pentagon planning documents indicate more than $4 billion is slated for upgrades across several American installations, including RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.