The United States Department of Defense has confirmed that the presidential aircraft formerly known as Air Force One was found on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday morning bearing a modified livery reading “AIR FOUR / ONE,” the scoreline “4/1,” and a Belgian flag on the forward fuselage. No explanation has been offered. No personnel have been disciplined. No footage exists.
“The aircraft was inspected at 22:00 Monday evening and appeared normal,” a Pentagon spokesperson said. “By 06:00 Tuesday, the changes were in place. The paint is dry. The FAA registry has been updated. We are investigating.”
The investigation has so far produced no leads. Security cameras covering the relevant hangar recorded eight hours of undisturbed tarmac. Base access logs show no unusual entries. A K-9 unit deployed Tuesday morning reportedly sat down next to the aircraft and refused to move, a behaviour the handler described as “unprecedented but not aggressive.”
Boeing, which manufactures the VC-25A, has confirmed that the livery modification is “professionally executed” and uses paint consistent with its own aerospace-grade coatings. “Whoever did this had access to the correct Pantone values for the Belgian tricolore,” a Boeing engineer said. “That is not information we distribute.”
The Belgian embassy in Washington issued a statement saying it “categorically denies any involvement in the modification of a sovereign nation's aircraft” while adding that “the new designation is, objectively, more accurate than the previous one.”
Belgium's Ministry of Foreign Affairs went further, describing the incident as “clearly the work of an independent actor” and noting that “the Belgian government does not conduct covert aviation operations, although we acknowledge that the result is aesthetically pleasing.” When asked whether Belgium would return the aircraft to its original livery, a spokesperson said: “We didn't do it. But also, no.”
The modification has created a procedural dilemma for the White House. Air traffic control protocol requires pilots to use the aircraft's registered callsign when the president is aboard. Under the current FAA registry, this means the pilot would be required to announce the aircraft as “Air Four One” on departure. A source within the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed this is “technically correct under current filings” and that correcting the registry “is being treated as a priority, but not an emergency.”
The president has not commented publicly. Sources say he was informed of the situation during his morning briefing at the NATO summit in Ankara and responded with a single question that aides have declined to repeat.
Belgium play Spain in the World Cup quarterfinal on Saturday. The Francs Borains play nobody of consequence. The aircraft remains on the tarmac, Belgian flag intact.