It is critical that the Air Force move forward with a replacement for the E-4B Doomsday aircraft and keep its capabilities “viable” for the next decade and beyond, said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown Jr. the general said. he told lawmakers on May 8.
Last month, the Air Force awarded Sierra Nevada a $13.08 billion contract to build a survivable air operations center, officially known as the National Airborne Operations Center, to replace the E-4.
The NAOC serves as a critical communications hub for directing U.S. forces from the air in emergencies ranging from the destruction of ground command centers to nuclear war. The current fleet is a militarized version of Boeing’s 747-200 platform, consisting of four aircraft with up to 111 passengers each. The Air Force aims to retire the E-4B and replace it with the SAOC by the early 2030s.
During a Senate Appropriations and Defense Subcommittee hearing, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) asked Brown, the former Air Force chief of staff, why there was a need for an E-4 replacement. Brown cited the aging fleet as the main reason.
“We need to make sure that we actually have a viable platform that we can maintain from a maintenance standpoint,” Brown said. “Because at some point it becomes more expensive to maintain than to move to new functionality.”
Air Force budget documents say the NAOC fleet suffers from “capability gaps, reduced manufacturing sources, increased maintenance costs, and parts obsolescence.” Fleet mission availability has steadily declined, reaching a low of 55.4 percent in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.
Brown also connected SAOC’s efforts to the Department of Defense’s broader efforts to modernize the entire nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) enterprise.
“It’s very important in that it not only introduces command and control to national leadership, but it also introduces nuclear command and control,” Brown said. “Therefore, it plays an important role in providing options for the president and the nation to continue operating in the event of any type of crisis or emergency.”
However, the SAOC will not simply replace the NAOC with a new aircraft and continue flying.
“As technology advances, we want to make sure that we have the most advanced capabilities the nation can provide and platforms that we use not only for command and control but also for our warfighters,” Brown said. Ta.
The Air Force is seeking $1.69 billion in fiscal year 2025 for SAOC efforts.
The service first launched its SAOC in 2019, but the process has been delayed several times as lawmakers have expressed concerns about the progress and the E-4 fleet’s capabilities. To keep the NAOC flying until its scheduled retirement, the Air Force is investing in virtual reality training for his E-4, creating training modules for maintainers and operators using 3D scans of the interior and exterior. did.
Like its predecessors, SAOC aircraft are built to fly outside the continental United States and withstand a nuclear attack in order to take governments out of the sky in times of crisis. Construction will be carried out in four states, including Sparks, Nevada, where the company is headquartered, and is expected to be completed by July 2036.