Pentagon seeks $76 million next year to start replacing Offutt-based ‘Doomsday’ jets – Omaha World-Herald

The day is coming when Offutt Air Force Bases giant Doomsday planes will fly off into the sunset.

The Air Force has started a program to replace the four E-4B Nightwatch jets also known as the National Airborne Operations Center within 10 years. The Doomsday moniker is because their primary mission is to take off and maintain control of nuclear weapons in the event of nuclear war. They also frequently are used as a transport plane for the secretary of defense.

In December, the Air Force posted a notice about the proposed replacement aircraft, which will be called the Survivable Airborne Operations Center, or SAOC. An industry day informational session for potential contractors was held in February.

In case of national emergency or destruction of ground command control centers, the SAOC will provide a highly survivable command, control and communications (C3) platform to direct U.S. forces, execute emergency war orders, and coordinate actions by civil authorities, said the Air Forces notice.

Congress budgeted $20 million in 2019 and 2020 to begin looking for a replacement for the E-4B and two other types of military aircraft, the E-6B Mercury and the C-32A. The Trump administration is seeking $76.4 million in its 2021 budget, and is looking to spend more than half a billion dollars over the next five years developing the new plane.

The new planes would start joining the fleet in the late 2020s.

The big, white E-4s have been a familiar sight in Nebraska skies since they were introduced at Offutt in the mid-1970s. They are a military version of the civilian Boeing 747-200, which first flew in 1968. Production ended in 1991, and the last passenger airline retired the model in 2017 (though later versions are still in use).

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Theyre the oldest 747s in the fleet, said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who oversaw their operation when he commanded the Offutt-based 55th Wing in 2011-12. Logistically, its a real challenge to find spare parts and maintain them.

Theyre also the Air Forces most expensive planes to operate. The magazine Business Insider calculated in 2016 that the E-4Bs cost just less than $160,000 an hour to fly. Thats almost $30,000 an hour more than the next-highest, the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which is equipped to carry StratComs nuclear gravity bombs into battle.

In 2017, two E-4Bs were damaged when a tornado struck the Offutt flight line. Both were stored in a hangar at the time, but with their tails exposed. The tails, which stand six stories high, acted like giant sails and moved the planes inside the building. The planes sustained a combined $8.3 million worth of damage and were out of service, one for four weeks and the other for eight.

An E-4B in its hangar at Offutt Air Force Base. The planes cost almost $160,000 an hour to fly.

The Navy E-6Bs, although based in Oklahoma City, are also frequently on call at Offutt. Their primary job is to communicate with Trident ballistic-missile submarines through VLF (very low frequency) communications systems, which involve flying in tight circles above the ocean while trailing a 5-mile-long antenna.

The 22 E-6Bs are military versions of the civilian Boeing 707-320. They were the very last of that type built, in the late 1980s.

The six C-32As are Boeing 757-200 narrow-body jetliners configured for use as executive transports for the vice president, first lady and members of the Cabinet. They were built in the late 1990s and are based at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

When they are carrying the vice president, they are called Air Force Two.

Despite their age, the E-4Bs are newer and have a better service record than the C-135-variant reconnaissance jets flown by the Offutt-based 55th Wing on critical missions around the world.

Those planes were built in the early 1960s. A 2018 World-Herald investigation showed the C-135-variants had break rates far higher than the E-4Bs.

Only a handful of those aircraft are scheduled to be replaced before the 2040s.

The area now known as Offutt Air Force Base was first commissioned as Fort Crook, an Army post to house cavalry soldiers and their horses. This photo, circa 1905, shows mounted officers and infantry troops assembling on the parade ground. The officers' quarters in the background still stand today, but the closing of Offutt's stables in 2010 ended the base's equine tradition.

The World's Fair of Aviation was held at Offutt Air Force Base, including a race between a 1912 airplane and 1912 automobile. The 1912 airplane easily won, but provided sharp contrast to the sleek, modern "600-mile-per-hour aircraft" on display at the fair.

Painter Frank Anania places the final bolt in the SAC emblem, newly placedon the command building at Strategic Air Command headquarters. After the command was created in 1946, SAC headquarters were moved from Andrews Field, Maryland, to Offutt Air Force Base. SAC's high-flying reconnaissance planes and bombers would go on to play a global role from the onset of the Cold War through the last bomb of the Persian Gulf War.

The Strategic Air Command "nerve center" gets a new headquarters building at Offutt Air Force Base.

Even since the late 1950s, Strategic Air Command has been holding open house events at Offutt Air Force Base to display and demonstrate aircraft for civilian visitors.Each year, the open house and air show at Offutt features aerial acts or reenactments, static displays, and booths showcasing military history and capabilities.

The first SAC museum consisted of a section of abandoned runway near the north edge of Offutt Air Force Base outside of Bellevue. However, the outdoor display left the aircraft vulnerable to the elements.

A Royal Air Force bomber crashes at Offutt Air Force Base. Beginning in the late 1950s, the RAF maintained small detachment and service facility for Vulcan bomber planes at Offutt, often participating in defense exercises and demonstrations at the base until their retirement and deactivation in 1982. Thisplane crashed at take-off at the northwest end of the main runway and then slid across Highway 73-75. All seven passengers survived.

Just weeks after the Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy visits Offutt Air Force Base, accompanied by Gen. Thomas Power of Strategic Air Command, right.

Actor Rock Hudson receives a B-52 bomber briefing during a visit to Omaha and Offutt Air Force Base. He began filming "A Gathering of Eagles" in May of that year.

An early photograph of the Ehrling Bergquist military medical clinic in Bellevue. The clinic has served Offutt Air Force Base since 1966 and was remodeled in 2013, including a grand staircase, largerphysical therapy and mental health areas, and a more private mammography waiting area.

The world's largest aircraft at that time, the C5 Galaxy was displayed as part of the open house for civilian visitors at Offutt Air Force Base.

A conference room in the SAC underground command post at Offutt Air Force Base. Strategic Air Command would be formally disestablished in 1992, but Offutt would remain the headquarters for the new United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM).

The Strategic Air Command Memorial Chapel holds a Sunday morning service as a reminder of those who have given their service and those who have died during the Command's 46-year history. Founded in in 1946, the command was dissolved in a ceremony at Offutt Air Force Base.

OPPD worker Craig Azure of Ashland holds a power line up across Platteview Road near Highway 50 so that an Albatross airplane can fit under it. After SAC was dissolved, the museum moved into a new indoor facility in 1998. Airplanes were moved from their old location at Offutt Air Force Base to their new and current home near Mahoney State Park off I-80.

The parade grounds gazebo at Offutt is dedicated in honor of Airman 1st Class Warren T. Willis, who was killed in an aircraft accidentthe previous December.

President Bill Clinton speaks at a rally at Offutt Air Force Base.

More than 300 anti-nuclear protesters gather outside Kinney Gate at Offutt Air Force Base. The rally was part of a weekend of protest against nuclear weapons, and was organized in response to an extensive nuclear arsenal review being held at the base.

Vice President Dick Cheney greets service men and women following a speech at Offutt Air Force Base's Minuteman missile in Bellevue.

Dignitaries clap along to an armed forces medley as ground is broken for the new U. S. Strategic Command Headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base. From left: Neb. Rep. Adrian Smith, Rep. Lee Terry, Neb. Governor Dave Heineman, General C. Robert Kehler, Commander USStratcom, Sen. Ben Nelson, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, and Mayor of Bellevue, Rita Sanders.

Chris Shotton created this thank you message to the airmen and troops flying in and out of Offutt Air Force Base. Employees of area Walmart stores have been writing giant messages in fields near Highway 370 for years.

Senior Airman Kevin Chapman works the desk at the new Public Health Clinic located in the Ehrling Bergquist military medical clinic.

The new MERLIN SS200m Aircraft Birdstrike Avoidance Radar System, with the control tower in the background, photographed at Offutt Air Force Base. The system was moved here from Afghanistan in order to help detect large flocks and prevent damages to aircraft from bids, which cost the Air Force millions of dollars each year.

An aerial photo from late February of the construction site for StratCom's new $1.2 billion headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base. Despite numerous delays and setbacks, the building would be completed in 2018, six years after construction began. StratCom would then spend the next year outfitting the structure with more than $600 million worth of high-tech communications and security gear.

President Barack Obama arrives in Omaha after landing at Offutt Air Force Base. While in Omaha, Obama met with the family of Kerrie Orozco, visited a local teacher, and addressed a crowd of about 8,000 at Baxter Arena.

This year, U.S. Strategic Command unveiled a new Command and Control Facility located at Offutt Air Force Base. The "battle deck," shown here, features computer workstations, soundproofing, and the ability to connect instantly to the White House and Pentagon.

Luke Thomas and Air Force Tech Sgt. Vanessa Vidaurre at a flooded portion of Offutt Air Force Base. In March, historic flooding included breaches of two levees protecting the base from the Missouri River.

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Pentagon seeks $76 million next year to start replacing Offutt-based 'Doomsday' jets - Omaha World-Herald