The U.S. Air Force awarded Sierra Nevada Corp. a $13 billion contract to develop the successor to the E-4B, also known as the «Doomsday Plane».
Sierra Nevada Corp. received a $13,080,890,647 contract for the Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) project, which aims to develop the successor to the Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post (AACP) to Project Nightwatch, a series of four strategic command and control aircrafts operated by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in severe national threat situations.
The E-4 series was based on the modification of four Boeing 747-200 airframes to serve as a mobile survivable command post for the National Command Authority, i.e., the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense and their successors. The aircraft are capable of withstanding electromagnetic blasts and are heat-shielded to better tolerate the effects of nuclear detonations. They feature conference rooms and secure communications equipment, allowing U.S. leaders to deliver orders to the military in the event of a national emergency. The four E-4s are operated by the 55th Wing’s 1st Airborne Command and Control Squadron, located at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska.
According to Reuters, the four E-4B aircraft currently operated by the USAF (with at least one on standby at all times), due to the age of the aircraft, are becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain as parts become obsolete. The «Doomsday Plane» fleet is expected to reach the end of its service life in the early 2030s.
This contract awarded to Sierra Nevada (Boeing, original manufacturer of the model and responsible for its modifications, was removed from the competition in December 2023) provides for development and production of the SAOC weapon system to include delivery of engineering and manufacturing development aircraft, associated ground systems, production aircraft and interim contractor support. Work is expected to be completed by 2036, with the new «Doomsday Plane» model most likely to be built on modified Boeing 747-8 aircraft purchased secondhand from commercial operators.
