HII lands $30M Wright-Patt contract to support Air Force One, other VIP craft

HII’s Mission Technologies division has been awarded a task order to support the Air Force work to recapitalize and sustain its fleet of presidential and executive aircraft.

The contract is valued at over $30 million, the Fairborn defense contractor said this week.

A Dayton-area HII team will support the reliability of aircraft overseen by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Presidential and Executive Airpower Directorate.

The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base directorate is responsible for planning and sustaining Air Force One and E-4B aircraft, and sustainment of the current Air Force One, E-4B, C-12, C-32, C-37, and C-40 aircraft.

The presidential air transport fleet consists of two dramatically customized Boeing 747-200B’s — tail numbers 28000 and 29000 — with the Air Force designation VC-25. When the president is aboard either aircraft — or any Air Force aircraft, for that matter — the plane’s radio call sign becomes “Air Force One.”

“Our customer has an important mission to increase the reliability of the special-purpose aircraft used for VIP transport,” Grant Hagen, president of Mission Technologies’ Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Space (CEWS) business unit, said in a statement. “We welcome and appreciate the opportunity to support the sustainment of these aircraft throughout their lifecycle.”

HII, with the directorate, said it will analyze critical aircraft systems and inform equipment improvements to sustain presidential and executive airpower.

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