The US Air Force Aims to Replace Crucial Aircraft for the American Presidency

Air Force Oneyou know. It is a Boeing 747-200, or any US Air Force plane, which is responsible for transporting the President of the United States. But do you know Air Force Two ? This is the code name of Boeing 757 and Boeing 737 chartered on the transport of the American vice-president, but also and more generally VIPs. Recently, the US Air Force has announced its desire to replace the latter planes to only pass on a single type of device.

Indeed, as revealed The Aviationistthe entire fleet of the Boeing 757 and Boeing 737 would have an age between 26 and 33 years. Which is relatively important, when you know that the race for technology can be played within a few years.

Thus, for the time being, the US Air force actively is looking for a replacement for eight planes that make up the “VIP” fleet and even if, a contract should lead to the purchase of a Boeing 737 Max 9 to temporarily replace some of the devices often in front of the garage box.

Boeing planes, logical choice?

Logically, yes. However, if that was the case, why does the US Air Force take the trouble to announce its desire to replace its “VIP” fleet if the final choice is already known?

Even if Boeing is likely to be privileged at the expense of Airbus for example, the American aerospace firm has experienced some big problems recently. And if the Boeing 737 Max could be envisaged to definitively replace the eight planes of the “VIP” fleet, the latter does not enjoy very good advertising.

Indeed, very shortly after its first flight in 2016, two Boeing 737 Max crashed in 2018 and 2019, causing the death of all the occupants of the two devices. But that's not all. If we talk about the most serious accidents that occurred in a potential candidate, we can also talk about repeated failures that have made themselves known to the general public because whistleblowers made it possible to deliver the truth about certain Boeing planes.

And then, if you remember, in 2024, two astronauts went to the ISS aboard the Starliner capsule. Designed by Boeing, the capsule ended up returning to Earth on Earth, leaving astronauts in the international space station for more than 9 months.

In short, if the US Air Force has not yet given its final decision as to the manufacturer who should design the replacements of “VIP” planes, it is perhaps because the only available manufacturer and who has already worked with the American army is perhaps less and less reliable in recent times.

Source : The Aviationist