"Air Force One" B747/VC25A replacement programme, updates...

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.defensenews.com/article/2012 ... /304100010 is an interesting read, not only for "Air Force One"...

New Air Force One Debuts in Pentagon Planning

Apr. 10, 2012 - 09:14PM

A new Air Force One presidential transport has appeared in the latest version of the Pentagon’s aviation plans, marking the first time the Pentagon has included a replacement for the long-serving Boeing 747 jet transport.

Installation of new, sensitive communications equipment could begin on the aircraft as soon as 2019, according to the Pentagon.

The plans don’t specify a specific aircraft model, but it could an updated executive version of the 747, known in military service as the VC-25.

Inclusion of the presidential transport “is significant,” said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group. “It doesn’t happen very often and there are some enabling new technologies.”

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said last year the service would need to look at replacing its two VC-25s later this decade.

“We have recognized for several years now that the Air Force One replacement is out there in our future in the late teens,” Donley said during a Sept. 19, 2011, briefing at an Air Force Association conference.

The two aircraft that serve as Air Force One began flying in 1990 and 1991, respectively, according to a service fact sheet.

Current and former military sources have said power demands are straining the two quad-engine jetliners due to the aircraft’s extensive communications equipment and other systems. Newer Boeing aircraft feature engines with thousands of pounds of more thrust than those on the current Air Force One aircraft.

The inclusion of a VC-25 replacement in the aviation plan comes at an interesting time, since recapitalization of Air Force One is typically directed by a president in a second term.

Following Obama’s harsh corporate jets comments, the Air Force put the VC-25 recapitalization plan on hiatus, with internal plans of replacing the current aircraft later this decade, according to the current and former military sources.

Since then, the service has been conducting low-level research and development of Air Force One-type systems, without identifying a specific airframe, these sources said.

Boeing has expressed interest in pitching its new, larger 747-8 as an Air Force One replacement. In September 2011, EADS North America said a VC-25 replacement did not fit its U.S. business model.

George W. Bush’s administration had tried to get the ball rolling on Air Force One and Marine One helicopter recapitalization before the end of his second term in the White House.

Barack Obama is up for re-election in November and, particularly during recent government bailouts of shaky corporations, has been highly critical of executive use of corporate jets.

[Stratofreighter]

...for those of you who normally never dare venture in the CIVIL Aviation part of this forum ,
see
http://forum.scramble.nl/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=133255
now.

Yes, two Boeing 747-800s originally built for the now-bankrupt Russian company of Transaero
and not taken up by successor Aeroflot are to become
the new USAF "Air Force One's"!
Update per August 2017.
Much more details at
http://forum.scramble.nl/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=133255

[YS11]

c/n 42416 and 42417 B774-85M,delivered 31-10-2017,to be modified for Presidential use.

[Stratofreighter]

...not too much of an update...

http://www.defenseone.com/business/2018 ... al/146190/

President Donald Trump and Boeing are in the final stages of negotiating a multibillion-dollar deal for two new Air Force One airplanes,
according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.

Trump met with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg at the White House on Tuesday
to try to close stalled negotiations between the Air Force
— which is responsible for buying the planes —
and the aerospace firm, the sources said.

Among the sticking points is the type of contract the government signs with Boeing.

The Air Force wants to sign a fixed-price deal that would require Boeing to buy the planes at an agreed price,
and then eat any cost overruns.

Boeing signed a similar contract with the Air Force for n
ew aerial refueling tanker aircraft in 2011.
That refueling plane has run into numerous development problems costing the Chicago-based firm about $2 billion.


Trump and Muilenburg on Tuesday were able to break the gridlock that had stymied lower-level negotiations, the sources said.

Although the deal has not been completely finalized, an announcement is anticipated soon.

The Air Force’s fiscal 2019 budget proposal, released last week,
projected the new planes costing $4 billion.

While Trump has already claimed $1 billion in savings,
the results of the latest round of negotiations will determine the actual level of savings,
if any.

And earlier this month:
http://www.defenseone.com/business/2018 ... nt/145973/

Trump Said He Cut $1B from Air Force One’s Price. His New Budget Says He Hasn’t

Two new Air Force One aircraft are still projected to cost $4 billion,
despite President Trump’s claims he negotiated with Boeing to take $1 billion off the price tag, Pentagon documents reveal.

The figures appear in a document released yesterday as part of the U.S. Defense Department’s 2019 budget proposal.
They provide the U.S. Air Force’s first public update on the planes’ projected cost since last May.

The document — formally, Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Air Force, Vol. 2 —
indicates that the Air Force has already paid $1 billion
to Boeing for two airframes and the engineering work needed in advance of their conversion into a VIP configuration.

It says the service expects to spend another $2.9 billion between 2019 and 2023 on the two planes.

And it says that the “cost to complete” is “continuing” —
a sign that more money would be needed beyond the five-year budget proposal.

While last year’s Air Force budget proposal boasted about saving $191.6 million on the project,
this year’s mentions no such savings.

Privately, service officials say that the only way to substantially cut costs on the two-of-a-kind planes is to change the requirements for them, and hence reduce the amount of custom, expensive modification work.

To date, the only major change is to eliminate a requirement for the plane to refuel in flight.