AFA AIR WARFARE SYMPOSIUM: While the Air Force and Boeing have yet to finalize a new schedule for the presidential aircraft replacement program, it now appears that the first new Air Force One plane will be delivered to the service even later than previously expected.
Boeing now expects that it will deliver the first VC-25B a total of 17 months later than originally scheduled, two sources with knowledge of the program told Breaking Defense.
That timeline has not been accepted by the Air Force and could change as the service negotiates with Boeing on a new schedule baseline. But Boeing’s new projection, which has been conveyed to stakeholders outside of the company, represents a growth from the 12-month delay presented by the company last year.
“We continue to work closely with the Air Force on a new approved schedule baseline,” Boeing spokeswoman Didi VanNierop said in a statement.
During a roundtable this morning with reporters at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium, acting Air Force acquisition executive Darlene Costello acknowledged that the program is now “more than a year late” when compared to its baseline schedule, which called for delivery of the first VC-25B in 2024.
Now that the Air Force has finished its independent schedule review, it will likely take “a month to two [months]” for the Air Force and Boeing to finalize the new schedule, Costello predicted.
“What’s important is that the program has continued. All along, we’ve been progressing. We’re not waiting for that [new schedule] to get started on the program,” she said.
News of a schedule slip was first conveyed publicly last summer, when Costello told lawmakers that Boeing had informed the Air Force of a 12-month delay to the program.
“That doesn’t mean that we agree with that yet,” Costello said then. “Our program team is looking at what they have assumed in their schedule and is doing … a schedule risk assessment.”
She added, “I wouldn’t expect that [delay] to be more than what Boeing is saying.”
Boeing has pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic and the bankruptcy of its now-defunct subcontractor GDC Technics as the major causes of the delay. GDC Technics was under contract to build the interiors of the VC-25B, but Boeing cancelled the contract and sued GDC, alleging that the company had fallen more than a year behind.
Any cost increases associated with the delay would be borne by Boeing, due to the fixed-price nature of its $3.9 billion contract with the Air Force. That contract covers the engineering, manufacturing and development work associated with turning baseline Boeing 747s into a presidential aircraft furnished with exquisite (and highly-classified) defensive systems, hardened electronics and secure communications gear.