The US Air Force (USAF) has awarded a new contract to Boeing for the design, modification, test, certification and delivery of two VC-25B presidential aircraft by 2024.
US President Donald Trump and Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg reached an agreement for the Air Force One replacement on 20 February, which has been formalised with the contract action.
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Under the USAF’s Air Force One replacement programme, the price for the two completed mission-ready presidential jets is set at $3.9bn. This will provide more than $1.4bn in savings for taxpayers.
The current firm-fixed-price contract modification comprises over-and-above provisions to address both presidential quality items and additional test effort induced by the US Government above the planned programme baseline.
The USAF intends to collaborate with Boeing on the VC-25B programme for the delivery of the new and advanced Air Force One fleet by 2024.
In April, the company received a $24.06m firm-fixed-price modification contract to advance the maturity of the air vehicle design beyond the preliminary design level on the VC-25B presidential aircraft.
The contract modification adds to the work already being carried out under the PAR contract, including the acquisition of two commercial Boeing 747-8 aircraft and VC-25B preliminary design activity.
Built on a highly-modified Boeing 747-200B series model, the VC-25 aircraft attains the Air Force One designation only when the US President is officially on board the jet.
VC-137, which served former US President John F Kennedy, was the first presidential aircraft to be commonly known as Air Force One.
