Replacement for Air Force One Faces Over a Year in Delays
04:01 GMT 05.03.2022 (Updated: 20:53 GMT 19.10.2022)
© REUTERS / ANDREW BOYERS
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Breaking Defense reported Friday that Boeing estimates the VC-25B program is running 17 months behind schedule. Boeing’s VC-25B is a military version of their 747-8 commercial airliner, but modified for use as a United States Air Force One.
That estimate may change depending on negotiations between the US Air Force and Boeing, but the negotiations alone could take almost two months for the two agencies to finalize a new schedule, according to Darlene Costello, the principal deputy assistant secretary of Air Force Acquisition.
“We continue to work closely with the Air Force on a new approved schedule baseline,” Boeing spokeswoman Didi VanNierop said in a statement.
On Friday during a news conference at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium, Costello noted that the program is officially over a year late. The contract between the Air Force and Boeing is a fixed price of $3.9 billion, and any extra costs to the program will affect Boeing, not the United States government.
Despite the delay, Costello remains hopeful, stating, “What’s important is that the program has continued. All along, we’ve been progressing. We’re not waiting for [the new schedule] to get started on the program.”
The delay could have something to do with claims by Boeing that it has lost a reported $318 million on the program due to COVID-19 restrictions and a supplier dispute.
Work on the project was halted by COVID-19 because “employee clearance constraints impede our ability to exchange mechanics when quarantines are required,” said David Calhoun, the chief executive officer of Boeing in 2021.
The company also reported what they called “performance issues at our supplier”, according to Greg Smith, the manufacturer’s chief financial officer. Smith may have been referencing GDC Technics, which Boeing sued last year for allegedly failing to deliver parts for the aircraft’s construction. GDC Technics countersued Boeing, accusing the company of mismanaging work on the VC-25B.
Image captures the aftermath of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, the second of which involved a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
The situation is not helped when the company in question is scandal-ridden. Boeing is responsible for negligence in the manufacture of their 737 Max model, resulting in two separate crashes that killed a total of 346 people.
The first crash, on October 29, 2018, saw Indonesia’s Lion Air Flight 610 nosedive into the Java Sea. The second, on March 10, five months later, saw Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 fly straight into the ground. It was later discovered that the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, a flight stabilizing program, was at the root of the crashes.
Boeing at first sought to blame the pilots of the first doomed aircraft. The company was later forced to ground the 737 Max jets and pay a total of $2.5 billion in a settlement after it was found that the company had concealed key data from safety regulators.
