The Department of Homeland Security is in the market for a new Gulfstream V, and its primary user will be Secretary Kristi Noem.
The department’s plans spilled into public view this week after Representative Lauren Underwood of Illinois emerged from a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the U.S. Coast Guard and revealed on social media that DHS wants to use $50 million in Coast Guard funding to buy the aircraft. Underwood said the main user will be Noem.
“She already has a Gulfstream 5, by the way, but she wants a new one paid for with your taxpayer dollars,” Underwood wrote.
Fellow Democrats took to social media platform X to mock and criticize the proposal, including Representative Ted Lieu of California.
“Would a foreign country like to give a gift of a $50 million luxury private jet to [Donald] Trump’s DHS Secretary?” Lieu wrote. “Asking for a friend.”
At the Appropriations Committee hearing, Admiral Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard’s acting commandant, defended the proposed acquisition and said the military branch’s aircraft are aging, with Noem’s current plane “approaching obsolescence.”
In a statement provided to The Washington Post, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant DHS secretary, said the department’s aircraft are “well beyond their service life and safe operational usage.” One Gulfstream jet used by the agency is over 20 years old, she added, “well beyond operational usage hours for a corporate aircraft.”
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According to the Post, the Coast Guard keeps two Gulfstreams in operation for use by admirals and senior officials at Homeland Security. The two aircraft have been modified for use by the military, with the older plane, delivered in 2002, known as a C-37A, while the newer plane, delivered in 2020, is known as a C-37B.
The government spent approximately $66 million on the jet acquired in 2020, giving some idea of what a new Gulfstream V may cost if the DHS purchase goes forward.
Coast Guard officials have said much of their fleet, including search and rescue aircraft, will have to be replaced soon to ensure the safety of its guardsmen. Most Coast Guard aircraft were purchased in the 1980s and ’90s, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office released last year.
Homeland Security’s request for a new aircraft comes as Trump moves to accept a $400 million Boeing 747-8 offered as a gift by the government of Qatar. Boeing is currently building two new jets to act as the new Air Force One, but their expected delivery date has been pushed back several times, drawing the ire of the president.
The company had scheduled delivery for 2029, after Trump would leave office, but last week it revised that timeline up to 2027.
