The Audacity Of... An A380 Air Force One?
Even as the plight of US manufacturers has revived "buy
American" sentiment, the Pentagon appears to be opening the door
for the next Air Force One to come from Toulouse, France.
As he takes office Tuesday, President Barack Obama inherits use
of two Boeing 747-200Bs outfitted for duty as Air Force One, a
flying office and command center equipped with defensive
countermeasures, aerial refueling capability, lavish staterooms,
and 87 phone lines -- 28 of them encrypted.
But the planes, which have been in use since 1990, are getting a
little rickety, and expensive to maintain. So recently, the US Air
Force quietly started kicking tires. The Los Angeles Times reports
that for the first time since Boeing started supplying the planes
during the Kennedy administration, the Pentagon has requested
information not only from Boeing, but also from Airbus.
Of note, the Boeing 747 used to be the world's largest airliner,
but that title now belongs to the Airbus A380, which has one-upped
the floor space of the 747 by a whopping 40 percent.
Despite the fact that the new Marine One Presidential helicopter
fleet will come from a consortium which includes Italian and
British companies, most industry observers believe it would be
unthinkable to have an American President step out of a
foreign-made Air Force One.
John Pike, director GlobalSecurity.org, predicts Congress would
have a fit. "The American president getting off of an American
plane has been a major part of the US being a superpower."
But Teal Group aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia isn't so sure
the A380 idea couldn't happen. "At first it sounds inconceivable,
but then again so did the presidential helicopter selection,"
Aboulafia said. "If politics was completely removed, the Air Force
may decide they need all the space they can get."
For its part, Boeing does not plan to go quietly. The company is
mum on details, but is thought to be readying a new proposal based
on the new, larger, 747-8 Intercontinental, which is scheduled to
enter airline service in 2011. The earliest the Air Force would
expect the three new planes it wants for the Air Force One fleet
would be 2016.
Lexington Institute Defense Policy Analyst Loren Thompson
predicts that regardless of any advantage for the A380, going in
that direction would be tough. "It would be like the president
arriving in a BMW limousine."
There is another factor, however -- unmentioned in the Times
report -- that may ultimately favor Boeing in the end. For the last
Air Force One contract, the USAF required aircraft submitted for
consideration to have been proven in regular commercial service for
a number of years.
That's why the USAF opted for the then 29-year-old 747-200
design, over the larger and more modern 747-400 variant... which
was still in development when the last contract was awarded, and
was just entering service in 1990. Unless the Air Force decides to
downsize Air Force One to a Boeing 777 (or an Airbus A330) that
would seem to favor the -400 being selected this time
around.
Regardless of what aircraft is chosen, the first new Air Force
One aircraft won't fly until 2017 at the earliest... which means
even if he wins a second term, President Obama won't fly on the
plane he ultimately chooses during his time in office.
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