AP
The Pentagon's latest budget request shows President Donald Trump's plans for a new red, white, and blue paint job for Air Force One, a paint scheme some observers say looks a lot like his private jet.
Buried in the pages of the Pentagon's $705.4 billion fiscal year 2021 budget request and accompanying information on the VC-25B Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization program is a photo of the future Air Force One with a red, white, and blue paint job rather than the light blue that was introduced in the 1960s during the Kennedy administration.
Department of Defense
A rendering of the future Air Force One in the Pentagon's latest budget request.
In last year's budget request, the accompanying image was in line with the current paint job.
Department of Defense
A rendering of the future Air Force One in the Pentagon's latest budget request.
In February 2018, the White House struck a $3.9 billion deal with Boeing for a new VC-25B aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-8, to replace the current VC-25A aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-200, used by the president.
That summer, Trump told CBS News that the new plane is "going to be red, white, and blue," revealing for the first time his plans for a new paint job.
Speaking to ABC News last June, the president showed off mock-ups of the new plane with its red, white, and blue paint scheme.
"There's your new Air Force One," Trump told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in the Oval Office.
At the time, observers were quick to point out that the president's plans for the new paint job looked eerily similar to his private passenger jet, only with the colors inverted.
Trump has a Boeing 757-200 that has been nicknamed "Trump Force One."
AP
Trump's private airliner, dubbed "Trump Force One."
The blue in the Pentagon photo does appear a little bit lighter than Trump's aircraft.
The new Air Force One - which, according to the Department of Defense, will "provide the President, staff, and guests with safe and reliable air transportation at the same level of security and communications capability available in the White House" - is expected to be delivered in 2024.