The Boeing 747-8s are designed to be able to fly in worst-case security scenarios such as nuclear war, and are modified with military avionics, advanced communications and a self-defense system.īoeing received a $3.9 billion contract in 2018 for two 747-8 aircraft to be delivered around 2024. ![]() The current aircraft has 4,000 square feet (372 square meters) of space on three levels, including a conference room and medical suite. Government Accountability Office (GAO) as a major schedule risk.Īir Force One - emblazoned with the American flag, the words "United States of America" and the seal of the office - is famous the world over as an airborne White House. The need for Boeing to switch to an alternative supplier for some interior work was also cited in the report issued by the U.S. The delay has forced the Air Force to spend more money to modernize the existing two-aircraft VC-25A fleet, and the length of the latest update means the aircraft will need to enter another intensive maintenance cycle in which the plane is completely stripped to bare metal and rebuilt.The next-generation presidential aircraft being built by Boeing Co risks further delay due to a tight labor market for mechanics and lower-than-expected security clearance rates, the investigative arm of Congress said on Wednesday. The process has bogged down, especially from a spat the company had with initial interior supplier GDC Technics, which declared bankruptcy in 2021. Maybe we can make up some ground.”īoeing is converting two used 747-800s, originally built for a now-defunct Russian airline, into the VC-25B configuration. So now we will probably be stuck with and we’ll see how it goes. “So we can’t transfer all of the risk to industry. “We’re gonna have some degree of protection, but you know, as with any fixed-price contract, we’re the ones who need the aircraft,” Kendall says. Kendall said the firm-fixed-price contract, while it saves taxpayer dollars, places all the risk on industry and can lead to delays without much the government can do to speed up the process. I won’t go into a bunch of specifics but trust that we made changes to the program.” “And so, the lessons are important to us, we are applying them moving forward, obviously, working on things like the schedule and the approach to getting them done, etc. But the goal right now is to deliver two great airplanes to the federal government, to our customer the Air Force,” Colbert says. “We can keep looking backward, you know, forever. New Boeing Defense & Space CEO Ted Colbert told reporters on the eve of Farnborough that the company has learned lessons from the contractual process and is now focusing on delivering the two aircraft. Boeing CEO David Calhoun recently said the company probably should not have taken the $3.9 billion contract because of the costs. “The VC-25B schedule is delayed due to a combination of factors including impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, interiors supplier transition, manpower limitations, wiring design timelines and projected test execution rates,” the Air Force said in a statement.īoeing has not requested an increase to the VC-25B contract price, despite a total $1.1 billion cost overrun the company has eaten because of the program's firm-fixed-price contract structure. The deliveries have “threshold dates,” meaning the latest they can be delivered without breaking the contract, of September 2027 for the first aircraft and February 2028 for the second. The second aircraft would be delivered in September 2027-a 36-month delay. On June 28, William LaPlante, the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, approved the new schedule baseline with the first delivery planned for September 2026-a 24-month delay from the original contractual date. The delivery of the first VC-25B, a converted used Boeing 747-800, previously expected in 2024. ![]() “So I think, like several other programs, Boeing’s in a loss position and they’re doing the best they can to make up lost ground and recover.” “We’ve had some schedule slips because of supply chain issues and because of various factors,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said during an interview at the Farnborough International Air Show here. FARNBOROUGH-The next Air Force One will be further delayed, with delivery of the first aircraft from Boeing now expected in 2026 as the company deals with supplier issues, pandemic-related problems and a contract that limits how the service can speed up the process.
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