Of Course, He Did...

On Friday, 10 March 2023, the U.S. Air Force set forth that Joe Biden had selected the livery for the long-delayed, grotesquely over-budget, Boeing-made VC-25B (read heavily-modified B-747 Air Force One aircraft). Excepting a slightly deeper shade of light-blue, the aircraft’s outer appearance will differ only slightly from that of its predecessors.

The new Air Force Ones’ engines will be painted the same darker blue as the aircraft’s upper-deck section, the USAF stated. What’s more, the VC-25Bs—unlike their VC-25A forebears—will feature no polished metal airframe sections as the alloys from which the new jets’ outer skins are constructed preclude such a finish.

Biden dispenses entirely with the bold, dark-blue, white, and red-accented Air Force One livery proposed by President Donald Trump. The proposed aesthetic challenged the status quo, deviating sharply from the robin’s egg and sky-blue, white, and gold-trim paint scheme in use since the Kennedy era.

Upon his ascension to the Oval Office in January 2021, Biden’s administration downplayed the former vice-president’s interest in redesigning the Air Force One paint scheme. In June 2022, however, it was announced that Trump’s red, white, and blue livery was to be dropped. The reversal was ascribed to thermal inertia ostensibly deriving of the dark-blue color central to Trump’s design. Representatives of the Biden administration stated President Trump’s livery would add heat in some environments, and would require additional Federal Aviation Administration qualification testing for several of the airplane’s commercial components.

The Air Force further stated in its 10 March press release that Boeing’s ability to carry out engineering, certification preparation, and supplier selection activities within the contractual time-frame was contingent upon a decision pertaining to the new VC-25B’s liveries being made in 2023.

Biden’s decision notwithstanding, the VC-25B program has fallen years behind schedule. The two aircraft currently on order were originally slated to be delivered in late 2024. The USAF maintains Boeing is currently expected to deliver the first VC-25B in 2027 and the second aircraft the following year—well into the next presidential term.

Andrew Hunter, USAF assistant secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics, advised Congress in May 2022 that the two VC-25B aircraft would be delivered two-to-three years late. Hunter ascribed what he called the “significant delay” to a Boeing subcontractor’s alleged inability to complete vital modifications to the aircrafts’ interiors. According to Hunter, Boeing subsequently replaced the original subcontractor, albeit unsuccessfully, before assigning a portion of the required work to its own personnel.

Whatever its cause, the delay in VC-25B deliveries has necessitated the continued use of extant VC-25A aircraft, the two of which were manufactured between 1986 and 1990.

In January 2015, the Air Force selected Boeing’s 747-8 platform for its Presidential Airlift Recapitalization program. In December 2016, however, President-elect Trump criticized the program’s cost and threatened to cancel it outright. The Trump administration and Boeing subsequently entered into negotiations, and in July 2018, the Air Force awarded Boeing the presidential aircraft contract at a greatly reduced cost to taxpayers. The deal was struck such that Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, in an April 2022 earnings call, expressed regret over the contract, suggesting his company should not have capitulated to the Trump administration’s terms.

The VC-25Bs include medical facilities, defensive systems, mission communications systems, executive interiors, autonomous ground operations capabilities and electrical systems upgrades.

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.whitehouse.gov