- Secret Service altered Trump’s flight due to credible missile threat.
- Trump secretly switched aircraft; Air Force One left separately.
- The threat involved a shoulder-fired missile, potentially heat-seeking.
- Trump confirmed switch, but felt smaller plane riskier.
A shoulder-fired missile threat targeting US President Donald Trump prompted the Secret Service to make a last-minute change to his travel arrangements during his visit to Turkey last month, according to a Reuters report.
The threat emerged on the final day of Trump’s trip to Ankara for the NATO summit, at a time when tensions with Iran were intensifying. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the Secret Service considered the threat “credible and imminent” and had little time to put an alternative plan in place.
“They were scrambling to head off what they thought was a credible, imminent threat,” the source said, while declining to disclose where the intelligence had originated.
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Trump Secretly Switched To Smaller Government Jet
Officials decided it was in Trump’s best interest to keep the operation secret as tensions with Iran remained high, the source said. Iran borders Turkey, adding to concerns surrounding the president’s movements.
On July 8, Trump and a small group of aides quietly transferred from Air Force One to a smaller C-32A government jet before departing Turkey. The transfer was carried out using a catering truck, while Air Force One left separately carrying senior officials, White House staff and journalists.
A second source told Reuters there was no definite plan to launch an attack, but there appeared to be an intention to target Trump. That assessment allowed both aircraft to continue flying rather than grounding the presidential aircraft.
Trump Confirms Secret Service Ordered Plane Switch
Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the Secret Service had instructed him to change aircraft. He said he believed the plane he ultimately flew on was actually at greater risk.
“I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for,” Trump said, without providing evidence for the assessment.
The president did not provide further details about the nature of the threat or the intelligence behind the decision.
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Heat-Seeking Missile May Have Been Considered
The reported threat may have involved a newer type of heat-seeking missile capable of locking on to an aircraft’s hot engines, Douglas Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told Reuters.
Such weapons can be more difficult to detect because they do not emit radio signals, Birkey said. He cited the Iranian SA-67 and Russian-made 9K333 Verba as examples of shoulder-fired systems that use heat-seeking technology.
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