DAVID E. SANGER, ERIC SCHMITT2025年7月28日卡塔尔赠送的这架波音747-8飞机停在佛罗里达州的棕榈滩国际机场。今年2月，特朗普总统曾参观了这架飞机。飞机的改装工作很快将在得州一处以秘密技术项目闻名的设施启动。 Al Drago for The New York TimesPresident Trump makes no secret of his displeasure over the cost of renovating the Federal Reserve headquarters — around $2.5 billion, or even higher by the president’s accounting.特朗普总统毫不掩饰他对联邦储备银行总部改建工程造价的不满——大约25亿美元，按总统的算法造价甚至还要更高。But getting the White House to discuss another of Washington’s expensive renovation projects, the cost of refurbishing a “free” Air Force One from Qatar, is quite another matter.但要让白宫讨论华盛顿另一个昂贵的翻新项目——改装卡塔尔“免费”赠送的“空军一号”的成本，那又是另一回事了。Officially, and conveniently, the price tag has been classified. But even by Washington standards, where “black budgets” are often used as an excuse to avoid revealing the cost of outdated spy satellites and lavish end-of-year parties, the techniques being used to hide the cost of Mr. Trump’s pet project are inventive.具体的成本恰好在原则上是保密的。但即便以华盛顿惯用的“黑预算”来掩盖老旧间谍卫星的更换成本和奢华年终派对开销的标准来看，为隐藏特朗普个人项目的花费而采用的手段仍堪称“别出心裁”。Which may explain why no one wants to discuss a mysterious, $934 million transfer of funds from one of the Pentagon’s most over-budget, out-of-control projects — the modernization of America’s aging, ground-based nuclear missiles.这或许解释了为何无人愿意讨论五角大楼从严重超支、失控的项目——老化的陆基核导弹现代化改造计划——中转出的一笔9.34亿美元神秘资金。In recent weeks, congressional budget sleuths have come to think that amount, slipped into an obscure Pentagon document sent to Capitol Hill as a “transfer” to an unnamed classified project, almost certainly includes the renovation of the new, gold-adorned Air Force One that Mr. Trump desperately wants in the air before his term is over. (It is not clear if the entire transfer will be devoted to stripping the new Air Force One back to its airframe, but Air Force officials privately acknowledge dipping into nuclear modernization funds for the complex project.)在最近几周里，国会预算的调查分析人士开始认为，那笔费用其实被偷偷塞进了一份五角大楼发给国会山的不起眼文件中，名义上是“转拨”给一个未具名的机密项目，几乎可以肯定的是，这笔费用包括特朗普迫切希望在他任期结束前投入使用的那架金碧辉煌的新“空军一号”的改造费用。（尚不清楚这笔转拨资金是否将全部用于将新“空军一号”拆到只剩机身，但空军官员私下承认，为了这个复杂项目，他们动用了核现代化经费。）Qatar’s defense minister and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed the final memorandum of understanding a few weeks ago, paving the way for the renovation to begin soon at a Texas facility known for secret technology projects. The document was reported earlier by The Washington Post.几周前，卡塔尔国防部长与美国国防部长皮特·海格塞斯签署了最终谅解备忘录，为这架飞机即将在一处以秘密技术项目闻名的得州设施开始的改造工作铺平了道路。《华盛顿邮报》率先对这份文件做了报道。Mr. Trump’s plane probably won’t fly for long: It will take a year or two to get the work done, and then the Qatari gift — improved with the latest communications and in-flight protective technology — will be transferred to the yet-to-be-created Trump presidential library after he leaves office in 2029, the president has said.特朗普的飞机服役时间不会太长：仅改装就需一两年时间，然后——特朗普称——这架来自卡塔尔的礼物经过尖端通讯和飞行防护技术改进，将在他于2029年卸任后移交尚在筹建中的特朗普总统图书馆。Concerns over the many apparent conflicts of interests involved in the transaction, given Mr. Trump’s government dealings and business ties with the Qataris, have swirled since reports of the gift emerged this spring. But the president himself said he was unconcerned, casting the decision as a no-brainer for taxpayers.鉴于特朗普与卡塔尔方面的政府往来和商业联系，自今年春天曝出“赠机”消息后，这笔交易中许多显而易见的利益冲突引发持续质疑。但总统本人表示他并不担心，宣称对纳税人来说这是个不需要思考的决定。“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” the president said in May. “I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’”“这么送给我，我是绝不会拒绝的，”总统在5月的时候表示。“我的意思是，蠢人才会说‘不，我们不要免费的、非常贵的飞机’。”It is free in the sense that a used car handed over by a neighbor looking to get it out of his driveway is free. In this case, among the many modifications will be hardened communications, antimissile systems and engine capabilities to take the president quickly to safety as one of the older Air Force Ones did on Sept. 11, 2001, when Al Qaeda attacked the United States. And there is the delicate matter of ridding the jet of any hidden electronic listening devices that U.S. officials suspect may be embedded in the walls.这个免费，相当于邻居为了腾地方送给你一辆二手车。这架飞机的改装项目包括：加固通信系统、反导装置，以便在出现危机时迅速护送总统脱险——2001年9月11日基地组织袭击美国时，老“空军一号”就是这么做的。此外还需完成一项棘手任务：清除美方怀疑可能嵌于机舱壁内的隐蔽电子监听设备。5月，特朗普在“空军一号”上接受采访。Then, of course, it has to be stuffed with the luxuries — and gold trim — with which the 47th president surrounds himself, whether he is in the Oval Office or in the air. The jet’s upper deck has a lounge and a communications center, while the main bedroom can be converted into a flying sick bay in a medical emergency.当然，还会有这位第47任总统无论是在椭圆形办公室还是在空中都会在自己身边摆满的奢华物品——以及金色装饰。飞机的上层设有休息室和通讯中心，而主卧室可以在紧急医疗情况下变成空中病房。So it’s no surprise that one of Washington’s biggest guessing games these days is assessing just where the price tag will end up, on top of the $4 billion already being spent on the wildly-behind-schedule presidential planes that Boeing was supposed to deliver last year. It was those delays that led Mr. Trump to look for a gift.因此，眼下华盛顿最热的竞猜话题自然是：在波音原定去年交付、但因延误导致成本已达40亿美元的总统专机项目外，这笔改装费用最终会达到多少？正是延误促使特朗普寻求“赠机”。Air Force officials privately concede that they are paying for renovations of the Qatari Air Force One with the transfer from another the massively-over-budget, behind-schedule program, called the Sentinel. That is named for the missile at the heart of Washington’s long-running effort to rebuild America’s aging, leaky, ground-launched nuclear missile system.空军官员私下承认，他们正在用另一项预算严重超支、进度落后的项目——“哨兵”的资金来支付卡塔尔赠送的“空军一号”的改造费用。这个项目的名字取自一种导弹，是华盛顿长期以来重建老化、漏洞百出的陆基核导弹系统的核心。The project was first sold to Congress as a $77.7 billion program to replace all 400 Minuteman III missiles, complete with launch facilities and communications built to withstand both nuclear and cyber attack. By the time Mr. Trump came back into office, that figure had ballooned by 81 percent, to $140 billion and climbing, all to reconstruct what nuclear strategists agree is the most vulnerable, impossible-to-hide element of America’s nuclear deterrent.该项目最初争取国会支持时，宣称耗资777亿美元替换所有400枚“民兵III”型导弹，并配备能够抵御核打击和网络攻击的发射设施和通信系统。在特朗普重返白宫后，这个数字暴涨81%至1400亿美元，且还在持续攀升，而所有这些都是为了重建核战略家们一致认为的美国核威慑中最脆弱、最难以隐藏的元素。In testimony before Congress in June, Troy E. Meink, the Air Force secretary, said that he thought the cost of the Air Force One renovations would be manageable. “I think there has been a number thrown around on the order of $1 billion,” he said. “But a lot of those costs associated with that are costs that we’d have experienced anyway, we will just experience them early,” before Boeing delivers its two Air Force Ones. “So it wouldn’t be anywhere near that.”6月的国会听证会上，空军部长特洛伊·迈因克称，他认为“空军一号”的改造费用是可控的。“我知道现在有个数字在流传，说是大约10亿美元，”他说。“但其实很多相关成本是我们无论如何都会花的，只是现在提前了”，在波音公司交付两架“空军一号”之前支出，“所以实际是远远达不到那个数字的。”“We believe the actual retrofit of that aircraft is probably less than $400 million,” he said.“我们相信这架飞机的实际改装费用可能不到4亿美元，”他说。If so, that would be a bargain. But engineers and Air Force experts who have been through similar projects have their doubts that it can be accomplished for anything like that price. Members of Congress express concern that Mr. Trump will pressure the Air Force to do the work so fast that sufficient security measures are not built into the plane. When asked last week, the Air Force said it simply could not discuss the cost — or anything else about the plane — because it’s classified.如果真是这样，那将是一笔划算的买卖。但参与过类似项目的工程师和空军专家对这个价签持怀疑态度。国会议员们担心特朗普会向空军施压，要求加快进度，从而导致飞机未能配备足够的安全措施。上周被问及此事时，空军表示根本无法谈论费用——或飞机的其他任何事情——因为它被列为机密。David E. Sanger报道特朗普政府和一系列国家安全问题。他在时报任职超过40年，著有数本关于美国国家安全挑战的书。Eric Schmitt是《纽约时报》国家安全记者，主要关注美军事务以及海外反恐议题，他报道此类新闻已超过30年。翻译：杜然点击查看本文英文版。