Engineering:Survivable Airborne Operations Center

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Short description: Planned US Air Force airborne nuclear command, control, and communications aircraft
Survivable Airborne Operations Center
Role Airborne strategic command and control post
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, and the E-4s will continue to fulfill the role in the meantime.

Development

Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post

The program was formally begun in 2019. However, the age of the E-4 platform was 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.[1] However, with no capable replacement, Rumsfeld's successor, Robert Gates, overturned the decision in 2007 and kept all the planes in the fleet.[2] The E-4B airframe has a usable life of 115,000 hours and 30,000 cycles, which would be reached in 2039; the maintenance limiting point would occur sometime in the 2020s.[3]

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.[4]

Operational status is not expected until the 2030s. According to testimony provided to the United States House of Representatives Armed Services Committee by USAF Gen. Thomas Bussiere on 28 March 2023, "the SAOC will achieve FOC [full operating capability] in the early to mid-2030s."[5] 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."[6]

Funding

Since the FY2021 NDAA, Congress has appropriated nearly $300 million in development funds, including $76.4 million for the first contracts in 2021.[7] The Air Force requested substantially greater funding in FY2024, asking for $888.8 million.[8] As of the FY2024 funding request, the program is expected to cost $8.3 billion over the period from FY2022 through FY2028.[9]

Selection process

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.[10]

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.[11][12]

Design

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.[9]

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. 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.[13]

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,[14] 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 production ended in January 2023,[15] the Air Force has left open the possibility of purchasing used aircraft. Col. Golden also 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.[13]

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."[9]

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.[16] This would also address the age of the Boeing 707 platform on 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.[17] 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[9] include:

  • Aerial refueling capability to enable sustained airborne operations
  • Hardening against electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and nuclear effects
  • Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) capabilities
  • Secure communications and planning capabilities based on a Modular Open System Approach (MOSA)

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Related lists

  • List of active United States military aircraft

References

  1. ↑ "Federal Budget Program 0302015F E-4B National Airborne Operations Center". February 2007. http://www.dtic.mil/descriptivesum/Y2008/AirForce/stamped/0302015F.pdf. 
  2. ↑ Francillon 2008, p. 37.
  3. ↑ "Federal Budget Program E00400 / E-4B". bga-aeroweb.com. March 2014. http://www.bga-aeroweb.com/Defense/Budget-Data/FY2015/E-4B-USAF-MOD-FY2015.pdf. 
  4. ↑ "ATAC provides recommendations for NAOC replacement" (in en-US). 2022-01-16. https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2900318/atac-provides-recommendations-for-naoc-replacement/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.af.mil%2FNews%2FArticle-Display%2FArticle%2F2900318%2Fatac-provides-recommendations-for-naoc-replacement%2F. 
  5. ↑ Bussiere, Thomas (28 Mar 2023). "FY24 Posture for Department of Defense Nuclear Forces". https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS29/20230328/115619/HHRG-118-AS29-Bio-BussiereT-20230328.pdf. 
  6. ↑ "FY2024 NDAA Bill Report". pp. 405-406. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy2024_ndaa_bill_report.pdf. 
  7. ↑ Hitchens, Theresa (2020-02-14). "Air Force To Kick Off E-4B Replacement Competition In 2021" (in en-US). https://breakingdefense.com/2020/02/air-force-to-kick-off-e4-b-replacement-competition-in-2021/. 
  8. ↑ Marrow, Michael (2023-03-13). "Air Force's FY24 request seeks to retire 310 older planes to invest in its future" (in en-US). https://breakingdefense.sites.breakingmedia.com/2023/03/air-forces-fy24-request-seeks-to-retire-310-older-planes-to-invest-in-its-future/. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Budget Estimates, Air Force Justification Book Volume 2 of 4, Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Air Force". March 2023. pp. 229-235. https://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/Portals/84/documents/FY24/Research%20and%20Development%20Test%20and%20Evaluation/FY24%20Air%20Force%20Research%20and%20Development%20Test%20and%20Evaluation%20Vol%20II.pdf. 
  10. ↑ Everstine, Brian (August 30, 2023). "Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Underdog Bid For The Next U.S. 'Doomsday Plane'". Aviation Week Network. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/sierra-nevada-corps-underdog-bid-next-us-doomsday-plane. 
  11. ↑ Insinna, Valerie; Stone, Mike (December 1, 2023). "Exclusive: Boeing eliminated from US Air Force's 'Doomsday Plane' competition" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeing-eliminated-us-air-forces-doomsday-plane-competition-2023-12-01/. 
  12. ↑ Pettibone, Richard (2023-12-04). "Boeing Out of Running to Build New Air Force ‘Doomsday Plane’" (in en-US). https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/2023/12/04/boeing-out-of-running-to-build-new-air-force-doomsday-plane/. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "USAF's Next Airborne Nuclear Command-And-Control Aircraft, Needs Four Engines | Aviation Week Network". https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/usafs-next-airborne-nuclear-command-control-aircraft-needs-four-engines. 
  14. ↑ Street, Francesca (2021-12-16). "The last ever A380 superjumbo is delivered to Emirates" (in en). https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/last-a380-emirates/index.html. 
  15. ↑ Ros, Miquel (2023-01-31). "Boeing says farewell to 'Queen of the Skies' with last 747 delivery" (in en). https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/last-boeing-747-leaves-everett-washington/index.html. 
  16. ↑ Martin, Jeff (2018-10-24). "US Air Force may replace 3 types of aircraft with a single platform" (in en). https://www.defensenews.com/newsletters/daily-news-roundup/2018/08/01/us-air-force-may-replace-3-types-of-aircraft-with-a-single-platform/. 
  17. ↑ Newdick, Thomas (2023-04-04). "Navy Drops Air Force’s Mission From Its Next ‘Doomsday Plane’" (in en). https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/navy-drops-air-forces-mission-from-its-next-doomsday-plane. 



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