Survivable Airborne Operations Center

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Survivable Airborne Operations Center
Role Airborne strategic command and control post
Manufacturer Sierra Nevada Corporation[1]
Introduction 2032 (planned)
Status In development
Primary user United States Air Force

The Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) is a United States Air Force program to develop a replacement for the E-4 National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC), a strategic command-and-control military aircraft used as a mobile command post for the National Command Authority in emergency situations.

The current E-4 platforms were built in the 1970s. The airframes are reaching the end of their operational lifespans and support costs are increasing. Because of this, in 2019, the USAF began a program to develop a new platform. This program will take several years to complete. The E-4s will continue to fulfill the role in the meantime.

Sierra Nevada Corporation was selected to develop the aircraft.[2]

Development[edit]

A Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post

The program began in 2019. The age issues regarding the E-4 platform were recognized much earlier. In 2006, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attempted to retire the aircraft due to its age, with the first plane scheduled for retirement in 2009.[3]

In 2007, with no capable replacement, Rumsfeld's successor, Robert Gates, overturned the decision and kept all the planes in the fleet.[4] The E-4B airframe has a usable life of 115,000 hours and 30,000 cycles, which will be reached in 2039. The maintenance limiting point will occur sometime in the 2020s.[5]

Like the B-21 Raider, the USAF expects to take advantage of off-the-shelf commercial products and digital design to a greater degree than in previous projects, to streamline development and reduce acquisition costs by relying less on bespoke components.[6]

Operational status is not expected until the 2030s. In March 2023, USAF Gen. Thomas Bussiere testified to the United States House of Representatives Armed Services Committee that "the SAOC will achieve FOC [full operating capability] in the early to mid-2030s."[7] A US Senate report on the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a section on the SAOC wherein the Armed Services Committee "encourages the Secretary to maintain the current recapitalization schedule in order to replace the aging fleet and field the more capable aircraft by the 2032 required assets available date."[8]

In August 2023, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announced the construction of large 90,000sqft maintenance, repair, and overhaul hangars in Dayton, Ohio, as a part of their bid for the SOAC contract. SNC released renderings of the hangars with Boeing 747-8s in them, indicating that the 747-8 is the likely platform for the SOAC.[9][10]

Funding[edit]

Since the FY2021 NDAA, Congress has appropriated nearly $300 million in development funds, including $76.4 million for the first contracts in 2021.[11] The Air Force requested substantially greater funding in FY2024, asking for $888.8 million.[12] As of the FY2024 funding request, the program is expected to cost $8.3 billion between FY2022 to FY2028.[13]

Selection process[edit]

As of August 2023, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) was reported to be bidding for the contract, on a platform assumed to entail data and communication modifications to a number of used 747-8 airframes.[14]

In December 2023, Boeing was eliminated from the bidding process, after refusing to enter into a fixed-price deal similar to its loss-making contract for the VC-25B, leaving SNC unopposed in the selection process.[15][16]

On 26 April 2024, Sierra Nevada Corporation was awarded a $13 billion contract with the contract expected to be completed by 2036.[17][18][19]

Design[edit]

Details about the design have not been publicly released, partially due to the classified nature of its mission but also because the project is still in development. The Air Force described its mission in the FY2024 budget request:

The Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) will replace the aging E-4B fleet which faces capability gaps, diminishing manufacturing sources, increased maintenance costs, and parts obsolescence as it approaches the end of its serviceable life. SAOC will provide POTUS, SECDEF and the CJCS a worldwide, survivable, and enduring node of the National Military Command System (NMCS) to fulfill national security requirements throughout all stages of conflict. As a command, control and communications center directing US forces, executing emergency war orders and coordinating the activities of civil authorities including national contingency plans, this capability ensures continuity of operations and continuity of government as required in a national emergency or after negation/destruction of ground command and control centers. SAOC will fulfill the requirements of the AF Nuclear Mission by providing Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) capabilities to enable the exercise of authority and direction by the President to command and control US military nuclear weapons operations.[13]

While the project is still in the early stages as of 2023, some of the existing project work has set requirements that would seem to rule out any aircraft platform except the Boeing 747-8. In 2022, Col. Brian Golden said:

You need a very large, four-engine aircraft to execute our mission set. There was a lot of discussion on: Could it be done on two engines? Partly. A lot of risk would have to be taken, and it wasn’t the Air Force’s risk to take.[20]

This statement seems to strongly suggest that the Air Force will once again turn to the Boeing 747, the only US-made four-engine airliner built in the several years prior, and the only aircraft based on a four-engine airliner platform built in the US since the last new-build E-3 Sentry and E-6 Mercury aircraft, both based on the Boeing 707 platform, were delivered in 1991. The only other four-engine airliner in recent construction is the Airbus A380, but production for that ended in 2021,[21] and the Air Force is generally reluctant to use aircraft not built in the United States, especially for highly sensitive missions such as the SAOC will take on. While 747-8 production ended in January 2023,[22] the Air Force has left open the possibility of purchasing used aircraft. Col. Golden said that a new aircraft wouldn't be necessary, making acquisition of a used 747-8 a possibility.

You don’t have to buy a brand-new aircraft. It’s not like a car. . . . You can buy an older aircraft—a few years old, five years old, it doesn’t matter—and the engineers will strip it down and build it back up.[20]

The FY2024 budget justification includes an expectation that the contractor will "buy the required aircraft, bring each aircraft to a common configuration, make required modifications, develop and integrate the mission system into each aircraft, provide required ground support systems and conduct contract support operations for fielded systems until Operations and Support Phase."[13]

The Defense Department has looked at the possibility of merging the capabilities of the US Navy's Boeing E-6 Mercury, currently the only aircraft with nuclear command-and-control capabilities, into the SAOC so that the roles of both the E-4 and the E-6 are handled by one aircraft.[23] This would also address the age of the Boeing 707 platform upon which the E-6 is based, which first flew in the 1950s. However, the Navy has chosen to replace the E-6 Mercury with the E-XX platform based on the EC-130J.[24] The new platform will continue the E-6's TACAMO mission but will drop the ICBM command-and-control capabilities of the E-6. Those capabilities will be integrated into the SAOC.

Planned capabilities have not been publicly discussed in great detail, but the program requirements[13] include:

See also[edit]

Related development

  • Boeing 747 – American wide-body long-range commercial jet aircraft
  • Boeing VC-25 – US Air Force presidential transport aircraft

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-26/-doomsday-plane-contract-for-13-billion-goes-to-sierra-nevada
  2. ^ https://theaviationist.com/2024/04/27/sierra-nevada-saoc-announcement/
  3. ^ "Federal Budget Program 0302015F E-4B National Airborne Operations Center" (PDF). FY2008 Federal Budget. February 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  4. ^ Francillon 2008, p. 37.
  5. ^ "Federal Budget Program E00400 / E-4B" (PDF). bga-aeroweb.com. March 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  6. ^ "ATAC provides recommendations for NAOC replacement". Air Force. 16 January 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  7. ^ Bussiere, Thomas (28 March 2023). "FY24 Posture for Department of Defense Nuclear Forces" (PDF). US House of Representatives Document Repository. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  8. ^ "FY2024 NDAA Bill Report" (PDF). United States Committee on Armed Services. pp. 405–406. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  9. ^ Trevithick, Joseph (27 April 2024). "Job Of Building The Air Force's Next Doomsday Planes Falls To Sierra Nevada Corp. (Updated)". The Warzone. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  10. ^ Everstine, Brian (30 August 2023). "Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Underdog Bid For The Next U.S. 'Doomsday Plane'". Aviation Week. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  11. ^ Hitchens, Theresa (14 February 2020). "Air Force To Kick Off E-4B Replacement Competition In 2021". Breaking Defense. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  12. ^ Marrow, Michael (13 March 2023). "Air Force's FY24 request seeks to retire 310 older planes to invest in its future". Breaking Defense. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  13. ^ a b c d "Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Budget Estimates, Air Force Justification Book Volume 2 of 4, Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Air Force" (PDF). Air Force Financial Management & Comptroller. March 2023. pp. 229–235. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  14. ^ Everstine, Brian (30 August 2023). "Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Underdog Bid For The Next U.S. 'Doomsday Plane'". Aviation Week Network. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  15. ^ Insinna, Valerie; Stone, Mike (1 December 2023). "Exclusive: Boeing eliminated from US Air Force's 'Doomsday Plane' competition". Reuters. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  16. ^ Pettibone, Richard (4 December 2023). "Boeing Out of Running to Build New Air Force 'Doomsday Plane'". Defense Security Monitor. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  17. ^ Marrow, Michael (26 April 2024). "Air Force awards SNC $13B contract for new 'Doomsday' plane". Breaking Defense. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  18. ^ Losey, Stephen (27 April 2024). "Sierra Nevada wins $13B contract to build Air Force 'doomsday plane'". DefenseNews. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  19. ^ "Contracts for April 26, 2024". U.S. Department of Defense. 26 April 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  20. ^ a b "USAF's Next Airborne Nuclear Command-And-Control Aircraft, Needs Four Engines | Aviation Week Network". aviationweek.com. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  21. ^ Street, Francesca (16 December 2021). "The last ever A380 superjumbo is delivered to Emirates". CNN. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  22. ^ Ros, Miquel (31 January 2023). "Boeing says farewell to 'Queen of the Skies' with last 747 delivery". CNN. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  23. ^ Martin, Jeff (24 October 2018). "US Air Force may replace 3 types of aircraft with a single platform". Defense News. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  24. ^ Newdick, Thomas (4 April 2023). "Navy Drops Air Force's Mission From Its Next 'Doomsday Plane'". The Drive. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
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