ISTANBUL 

Modifying a luxury aircraft provided by Qatar, which US President Donald Trump has claimed is a gift for use as the new Air Force One, will likely cost under $400 million, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers Thursday.

Meink's remarks came amid tough questions directed by Democratic Representative Joe Courtney on the cost of the Qatari plane during a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee, CNN reported.

"You can’t retrofit a plane that is built for another purpose for Air Force One and expect it to be a free plane,” the Connecticut congressman said, adding the Qatari plane will need installation of encrypted communication systems, reinforced defensive capabilities and advanced countermeasure technologies.

"It’s clear that this is going to be a drain on the Air Force’s budget," Courtney added.

Meink rejected to go into specifics about the retrofitting requirements for the plane, citing the classified nature of much of the information.

However, he said that projections suggesting the cost will exceed $1 billion are inflated, adding: “We believe the actual retrofit of the aircraft is probably less than $400 million.”

Last month, the Pentagon announced that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had accepted a Boeing 747-8 from Qatar, which President Trump is expected to use once it has been upgraded with "proper security measures and functional mission requirements."

However, at the time, a source familiar with the matter said the agreement had not yet been finalized and that negotiations between legal teams were still in progress.