U.S. President Barack Obama and daughter Malia disembark from Air Force One upon arrival in Cape Cod before being flown to nearby Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, August 19, 2014. Obama is resuming to his summer vacation after returning to Washington f
IN PHOTO: U.S. President Barack Obama and daughter Malia disembark from Air Force One upon arrival in Cape Cod before being flown to nearby Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, August 19, 2014. Obama is resuming to his summer vacation after returning to Washington for a day of meetings at the White House yesterday. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

Pentagon has taken up the work of modernisation and acquisition of the U.S. President’s official aircraft “Air Force Once”, on a high priority. Accordingly, billions of dollars will be spent on acquiring three new Boeing 747s to set up a new fleet of Air Force One. Pentagon’s contract for the next Air Force One will soon be signed with Boeing and it hopes to have the new 747s flying the president in 2023.

Pentagon's strategy is two pronged -- extending the service life of the existing fleet and fast tracking acquisition of a new generation fleet to carry the future commanders in chief. Col. Amy McCain, who is in charge of ordering the new Air Force One said, "We've got a pretty good size team working on it." McCain's team has 80-staff and it may swell to 100 shortly.

McCain’s rationale for acquiring a new fleet is that the current fleet is almost a quarter century old and is the only 747-200 left in the United States that is airborne. Flying them, costs a lot more time and money. So it makes sense to acquire a new fleet to stay cheaper in costs in the long run.

Pentagon has already requested the Congress to allocate $102 million in 2015 towards the purchase and the total cost may escalate to more than $3 billion in another five years. But these figures are exclusive of the cost required in the final three years of the project, according to reports.

Cutting Edge Features

The existing VC-25 presidential aircraft has many cutting-edge features in terms of hi-tech equipment used in navigation, electronic and communications including multi-frequency radios for air-to-air, air-to-ground and satellite communications. The Air Force One is also equipped with advanced electronic countermeasures and anti-missile flares.

Some of its attractions are -- presidential suite beneath the cockpit with stateroom, dressing room, lavatory and shower. The president’s office also has a conference room, dining room, accommodation for guests, secret service, security personnel and media. The two galleys of the plane are equipped with facilities to provide 100 meals at a time.

Modernisation Project

Meanwhile, aircraft experts at Boeing are working on a project to upgrade the avionics subsystems aboard the two VC-25A presidential aircraft. Officials of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City announced the $52.8 million contract to Boeing Aerospace Operations for Avionics modernisation, reports Intelligent Aerospace News.

The VC-25A air transport fleet consists of two Boeing 747-200B jumbo jets. The fleet needs to maintain 100 percent reliability and safety, unrestricted global access to civil and military airfields. The contract, awarded in February 2015 mandates Federal Aviation Administration to build, install and test one prototype. The upgrades will involve enhanced pilot awareness with the incorporation of new subsystems to increase the utility and safety of the VC-25A.

The average design service life of the VC-25A is 30 years. In the existing fleet, only five years of service life are left. It is expected that the AMP modifications will add more life to the jumbo jets. Boeing is expected to finish the modernisation work by May 2018.

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