When American Airlines Flight 292 from New York to New Delhi was diverted to Rome after a bomb threat late last month, a viral picture of the plane being escorted there by an Italian fighter jet made the rounds on social media.
It was a dramatic way to punctuate what was otherwise a sadly routine event: a bomb threat diverting a plane, one that “was determined to be non-credible,” according to Sky News.
🔴 New footage released by the Italian Air Force shows American Airlines flight AA292 being escorted by Eurofighters as it diverts to Rome Fiumicino due to a reported bomb threat. The flight was en route from New York JFK to Delhi. pic.twitter.com/yyNOAvZ1d7
— Airways Magazine (@airwaysmagazine) February 23, 2025
With footage like this and the exponentially greater importance of keeping Air Force One safe, you might be thinking that the presidential plane is followed by a phalanx of military aircraft.
You might be surprised at the answer: only sometimes. And that’s because Air Force One is hardly a defenseless plane itself.
First, let’s talk about Air Force One, which isn’t actually the name for the plane. That’s just the designation for whatever plane the president is aboard — which, in practice, is one of two Boeing VC-25 military transport jetliners.
The VC-25, the astute observer will note, is basically a modified version of the iconic Boeing 747 passenger liner. The current VC-25A — so designated because its successor, the VC-25B, is under protracted development, as are many things at Boeing — is actually based on a relatively ancient version of the 747, the 747-200. That plane entered service in 1971, although the VC-25 version of the plane didn’t begin testing until 1987.
However, just because the VC-25 is based on an aged platform doesn’t mean the plane itself is old technology. In fact, it’s quite cutting edge — which is why it doesn’t need that phalanx of fighter jets to keep it safe.
Have you ever seen Air Force One?
As Executive Flyers noted, it doesn’t usually get accompanied by fighter jets, which don’t typically fly at the altitude that commercial planes do for safety reasons. If it is accompanied by fighters during dangerous missions, the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon or Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor will escort it.
However, again, that doesn’t mean it’s flying without protection.
“For one, both planes are outfitted with high-end communication equipment to maintain a direct line with those on the ground,” SlashGear noted.
“To protect this and other equipment, the planes’ electronics systems are heavily fortified against electromagnetic pulses and similar attacks. In case a more explosive attack comes the planes’ way, though, both Air Force One planes have anti-missile defenses. They can even jam radar and send out flares, along with other bells and whistles that are currently classified.”
That being said, there are backup planes for the VC-25 — just not the fighter jets you might think.
Before they were retired in 2017, for instance, Air Force One was accompanied by Gulfstream C-20Cs — a surprisingly secretive military variant of the Gulfstream III business jet with “hardened” communications capabilities flown by the Air Force. Those planes, however, were retired.
The two planes that currently always travel along with Air Force One, however, might surprise you.
The first — which flies ahead of the VC-25 carrying the president, according to Simple Flying — is a McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, a cargo plane with short takeoff and landing, or STOL, typically used by the Air Force “for tactical strategic missions transporting troops and cargo worldwide,” the outlet noted.
This plane precedes the VC-25 because — well, you know all of those gargantuan limos the president travels in and the secretive black SUVs the Secret Service uses to ensure there aren’t any ground threats? They don’t drive themselves to wherever the president is going, after all, and Uber doesn’t offer an option to ride-share in “The Beast,” that tank-like limo also known as “Cadillac One,” which keeps the current commander-in-chief safe on the roads.
C-17 #Globemaster III Landing On A Dirt Airfield. pic.twitter.com/xSdvIRb3SP
— Aviationdaily✈️الطيران يوميآ (@Aviationdailyy) July 30, 2017
There’s a second plane that’s always with the VC-25 when it travels as Air Force One — we’ll get to that in a second — but it’s worth noting that in addition to the C-17, the cargo plane contingent has grown larger in recent years.
“In addition to the Presidential Motorcade being forward deployed to where the President is heading, it is now usually customary to deploy a pair of Presidential Airlift helicopters to the destination regardless of if they are used or not,” The War Zone reported in 2020.
“These could be either a pair of ‘Marine One’ VH-3D Sea Kings or VH-60N Black Hawks belonging to Marine Helicopter Squadron 1, otherwise known as HMX-1. The unit is located along the Potomac River in Quantico, Virginia. Like the motorcade, these choppers usually arrive via USAF heavy transport and they are often not seen outside of a local orientation and maintenance check flight that occurs days before the President arrives.
“Their main mission is to offer the White House and the Secret Service a contingency presidential transport solution in an any number of types of emergency or special circumstance,” the outlet noted.
This is more logistical support, however. The second plane may look like the VC-25 outwardly — indeed, it’s based on the same Boeing 747-200 platform — but this one is a bit less inviting. In fact, it’s known as the “Doomsday Plane,” per Simple Flying.
The Boeing E-4 is a completely different animal from the VC-25, despite the fact that both look similar. Bottom line, it’s been turned into an airborne nuclear bunker, which can also be used as a command and control center for the chief executive in the worst case scenario.
The plane was originally built as part of the National Emergency Airborne Command Post program, initiated during the height of Cold War nuclear tensions.
There are twice as many E-4s as there are VC-25s — four as opposed to two, all operated from Offutt Air Force Base outside of Omaha, Nebraska.
You may be wondering why the E-4 wouldn’t be operated out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, which is where Air Force One is typically based and where the president flies out of when he leaves Washington, D.C. Indeed, when they entered service in the 1970s, they were based there — then known as Andrews Air Force Base — but were moved to Offutt to keep them safer from nuclear attack.
All of which is to say, I suppose, that if you really want to avoid getting nuked but like living near a major city, consider the Omaha suburbs.
But make no mistake: The E-4 is always ready to go at the snap of the fingers, with at least one of the four craft ready to go on a 24/7 basis and relief crews at Joint Base Andrews and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post
E-4B
Jul 27 2024 13:34#横田基地 pic.twitter.com/ualNWyLhkC
— K. Betsui (@jr1kdq) July 27, 2024
Of course, you might be familiar with planes like the F-16 and the F-22 and think they offer more protection. The truth is, we don’t know exactly what the specifics of the protections that Air Force One has in tow at any given time or why, and that’s for the best; known defenses are self-evidently less safe from bad actors.
Furthermore, even though the platform the current VC-25 is based on, remember that the I mentioned the VC-25B. That’s based on the 747-8, a significantly updated version of the airliner using next-generation technology from the 787 Dreamliner, which first entered service in 2011. The VC-25B is still undergoing testing and, as of a 2023 Air Force media release, was expected to be delivered in 2027.
That being said, it doesn’t take our most advanced fighters to keep the president safe. In fact, all it takes is two 50-year-old jetliners with a hypermodern security makeover, combined with a “Doomsday Plane” and an advance cargo lifter, to keep President Donald Trump safe from terrorists, assassins, and other threats.
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