From the President to returning hostages, the 89th Airlift Wing hauls some of the nation’s most precious cargo.
JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md.
The 89th Airlift Wing is best known for its fleet that transports leaders to red carpet arrivals around the world. Less understood is that the aircraft painted in iconic pale blue and white are also intended to ensure the continuity of U.S. government operations in a crisis—and can even serve as a flying nuclear command post.
“When we land somewhere, it is a national monument,” 89th Airlift Wing Commander Col. Chris Robinson said in an interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine.
“On the side of our aircraft, it says United States of America. And so when that airplane lands, it’s that first impression with our allies and partners. It is a unique and special instrument of the state that my team is uniquely privileged to be a part of,” Robinson emphasized.
The term no fail means just that—we cannot, for one moment, slip. —Col. Chris Robinson, 89th Airlift Wing commander
The wing’s two VC-25As, Boeing 747s known commonly by their Air Force One call sign, used only when transporting the President, are flown by the wing’s Presidential Airlift Group.
The wing’s 1st Airlift Squadron flies four C-32As, Boeing 757s used by the Vice President as Air Force Two, by the Secretary of State or Defense Secretary on some trips, and on occasion by President Donald Trump on shorter trips, such as to his resort and golf club in New Jersey, which is just a short hop from Joint Base Andrews, Md.
The 1st Airlift Squadron also flies a fleet of four smaller C-40s—Boeing 737s used to transport high-level administration officials, top military leaders, and members of Congress.
The wing’s primary workhorse is the C-37, often seen parked on a main flight line at Andrews. While most are painted blue and white, a few jets sport discreet all-white liveries. The 11 C-37s come in two variants: The A model is a modified Gulfstream V, the oldest of which are approaching 30 years old, while the newer C-37B is a modified Gulfstream 550 with greater range and fuel efficiency. These jets can fly high and fast, cruising at 50,000 feet, above most weather and commercial traffic, despite its compact airframe.
Despite the high-profile nature of their mission, most of the wing’s aircraft carry no tail numbers, obscuring their important cargo: The President, the Vice President, the first spouse, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Speaker of the House. Other notable customers include the FBI, CIA, NSA, combatant commanders, and congressional delegations, and, from time to time, special cargo, such as the remains of a former President or repatriated Americans returning home.
The mission is unique, as is its demands, Robinson said. “If you just wanted pilots or flight crews, then you could contract this out or put civilians on it. The fact that we’re still uniform-wearing people allows us to do unique things and have that mindset that we go anywhere despite the threat.”
The 89th Airlift Wing’s 1,800 personnel includes an elite team known as the SAM Foxes, who take their nickname from the call sign used on the wing’s Special Air Missions—SAM. A Red Fox adorns their patches and uniforms.
That unit flew a C-37B from Andrews last February, taking off at 4:25 a.m. on short notice and eventually landing in Moscow. U.S. officials declined to disclose the purpose of the flight or its passengers at the time, but February was an active period in U.S.-Russian relations.
Earlier that month, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff went to the Russian capital to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and negotiate an exchange of prisoners. Mark Fogel, an American school teacher who had been detained in Russia was released in exchange for a Russian who had pleaded guilty to money laundering.
Later, senior U.S. and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss restoring the staffing in their respective diplomatic missions.
“It could be a very nerve-wracking thing, but just know that there is a massive support apparatus helping the crew get to where they need to go,” said Tech. Sgt Brandon Jones, a C-37 flight engineer with the 99th Airlift Wing and instructor with the formal training unit, speaking generally about alert missions. Gulf-
streams typically do not have or require flight engineers, but on C-37 missions, he is a qualified pilot, a third pair of eyes in the cockpit, and a flying crew chief who helps oversee the aircraft to ensure it remains ready to go on worldwide missions.
“If something’s wrong with anything in there,” Jones said, pointing to a picture on the wall of C-37 engine being serviced in a conference room at the 99th Airlift Wing headquarters building, “I’m going to be the guy on the ladder also doing that on the road, except I get to do it in my Blues.”
In September, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s gathering of high-ranking military officers from across the world for a speech in Quantico, Va., dispersed the wing’s C-37s around the globe to pick up generals and admirals; planes landed at Andrews roughly every 30 minutes on the evening of Sept. 29, according to open-source data, and the process reversed itself over the next 48 hours.
Crews must always be flexible. Senior officials’ travel can be fluid. Staff Sgt. Greigh Ornelas who is a C-37 communications systems operator and instructor with the formal training unit, ensuring classified and unclassified systems are working properly on the ground before a flight and in the air, has also become an expert at booking hotels.
“Because of the people we fly, they’re going to big conferences, big events, and a lot of hotels and transportation companies [tell us] ‘Sorry, we’re fully booked.’ So we’ve got to kind of get creative,” Ornelas said.
When things go wrong, problems are magnified. An Air Force C-32 carrying Hegseth had to divert to RAF Mildenhall in England while flying from Brussels to Andrews Oct. 15 due to a cracked windshield. The aircraft, tail 98-0002, is among the Air Force’s oldest C-32s.
“On the way back to the United States from NATO’s Defense Ministers meeting, Secretary of War Hegseth’s plane made an unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom due to a crack in the aircraft windshield,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement provided to Air & Space Forces Magazine, referring to Hegseth’s secondary title authorized by the Trump administration. “The plane landed based on standard procedures and everyone onboard, including Secretary Hegseth, is safe.”
It marked the second time an Air Force C-32 carrying a high-ranking cabinet official has had to divert due to a cracked windshield this year. In February, a plane carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio ran into a similar problem after taking off from Andrews as the chief diplomat was flying to a security conference in Europe.
The wing is highly selective, and tours are typically longer than in other units. It employs its own physiologist to help screen potential members and recruits Airmen from across the Air Force for talent.
“[It is] a very world-class organization there at Andrews, with the best of the breed going in there, from the people flying the plane to supporting the plane to supporting the customers themselves,” said 18th Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Charles D. Bolton, who oversees the 89th Airlift Wing as one of the units that comprises AMC’s sole numbered Air Force. “It’s a very dynamic kind of mission set. It’s about balancing out their schedules and how they can support it in a very dynamic environment.”
Selectivity and specialization here is like in other tight communities, such as the B-2 bombers at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.
“It’s above and beyond everything you’ve ever had in the Air Force, so you’ve been vetted, and then you’re going to be double and triple-vetted,” Robinson said. “At each level, there’s a cut. … We still have plenty of Airmen volunteering for it, but we are incredibly selective.”
At the same time, some skills are in short supply, and the recruiting mission never ends. Ahead of visits to other Air Force bases, the wing sends out emails actively recruiting Airmen.
“I tell my fellow wing commanders this: ‘If you’re sending us the right person, it should hurt to give them up. You should cringe at the thought of that person leaving your wing because they’re so critical to your mission. But guess what? They are going to get to grow and do and see things that are bigger than any mission we have.”
The 89th Airlift Wing, Robinson continued, “has two no-fail missions: nuclear and presidential support. … The term no fail means just that—we cannot, for one moment, slip on either of those things.”
On international trips, the Secretary of Defense often flies on one of four E-4Bs. These National Airborne Operations Center aircraft belong to Air Force Global Strike Command. When those are unavailable, a C-17 Globemaster III can be equipped with a modified Airstream trailer known as the Silver Bullet that provides some of the same capabilities. SAM Fox Airmen are flight attendants on these missions, who are largely invisible to unknowing passengers on board.
“This particular mission set goes everywhere, because, of course, the people we service go everywhere,” said Tech. Sgt Erasmus Hartsfield, a flight attendant with the 1st Airlift Squadron, which flies the C-32A and C-40.
In addition to the four C-32As in the 1st Airlift Squadron, the Air Force also has four newer, and secretive, C-32As, which shadow or serve as Air Force One, based on open-source flight tracking information—though the Air Force does not officially acknowledge the newer aircraft. Their tail numbers—since painted over—suggest the jets were purchased starting in 2009 as used aircraft. The jets are likely equipped with the Senior Leader Communications System, which a 2020 Air Force document referred to as “a system foundational to the Presidential and Executive Airlift Fleet.” The four unacknowledged C-32As appear to operate under the Presidential Airlift Group, rather than the 1st Airlift Squadron.
The 89th Airlift Wing only acknowledged four C-32As in an account of its inventory to Air & Space Forces Magazine and the Air Force lists only four C-32As on its official fact sheet for the plane. But a review of photographs, flight tracking data, and the accounts of former officials confirm there are eight C-32As. Details of the secretive C-32As were first reported by Defense One in 2024.
The four public C-32As began receiving the Senior Leader Communications System, the new Presidential and National Voice Conferencing system, and other communications upgrades this year, and the entire fleet is scheduled to have those upgrades in fiscal 2027, according to data compiled by Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Global Strike Command’s E-4Bs are known as the “Doomsday Plane” for their role as the nation’s primary nuclear command and control aircraft. Due to its size and paint job, it can be seen shadowing Air Force One around the world along with C-32As, though the Air Force officials and personnel do not comment on that mission. But the E-4 is not the only modified passenger jet America’s adversaries should fear. Air Force One and perhaps some of the C-32As are suspected to have high-end command and control capabilities as well.
However, the 89th Airlift Wing remains tight-lipped on exactly what its aircraft can do.
“Now the Secretary of War will fly on that platform, and he has that access to that,” Robinson said, referring to the E-4’s nuclear command and control role, and using Hegseth’s secondary title authorized by the Trump administration. “But the other platforms have capabilities, and I won’t go much further than that. We have aircraft that can do those missions.”
While not often associated with executive airlift—a term that perhaps undersells the 89th’s mission, Robinson noted—nuclear command and control is one of the wing’s bedrock responsibilities.
“Nuclear command and control is one of the keys to deterrence,” Robinson said. “We all hope that that never happens. But our nation’s enemies need to know that there will never be an opportunity for them to strike without us being able to control our forces.”
Beyond the ability to control forces, the wing must also ensure the survival of the nation’s top leaders.
“Continuity of government is a special responsibility. That’s a different thing than continuity of operations,” he said.
Like the rest of the Air Force, the 89th Airlift Wing has one critical problem: Its planes are old, and replacements are slow in coming.
The Air Force acquired its first four C-32As more than 25 years ago. Communications have been updated for secure voice, data, and video connections, but the planes are used frequently and wear is a concern. In October 2014 after visiting 55 countries and flying over half a million miles in his first 18 months as Secretary of State John Kerry’s C-32 broke down in the midst of talks with Iran on its nuclear program. Now, 11 years later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has already visited 22 countries and traveled over 100,000 miles, also in the C-32.
For now, however, there is no plan to replace the C-32 or C-40, some of which are over 30 years old. Still, official Air Force figures give the C-32A and C-40 a mission capable rate of over 90 percent for fiscal 2024.
Current Air Force One VC-25 jets date to 1990 and 1991, during the presidency of George H.W. Bush, and have served Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Trump, Joe Biden, and now Trump again in the ensuing 35 years. The planned project to replace them has dragged on for more than a decade, and the replacement jets, 747-8is, originally ordered in 2011 by a now-defunct Russian airline, are already out of production. The jets were ordered by the Defense Department in 2018, but the modification process has been mired in challenges, with delivery most recently delayed until 2029—five years behind plan.
President Trump’s frustration drove the unprecedented decision to accept another 747 from the government of Qatar. Modifications to that plane are underway, with the aim that it can temporarily serve as Air Force One assuming it can be delivered while Trump is still in office. The Air Force has released no details on the modifications planned or their cost, saying only that it has diverted unspent funds from the Sentinel ICBM program for the purpose.
As with much of the Air Force, therefore, many of the 89th’s planes are older than the Airmen who fly and maintain them.
“What a special thing it is to be a young Airman and be entrusted [with the mission]. If you think about how young some of our pilots are, some of our flight attendants, some of our comm systems operators, some of our flying crew chiefs, and they are flying with the world’s most powerful people,” Robinson said. “Our pilots—they’re somewhere between that 26 and 34 year on average. Your average airline pilot for something like an international carrier, they’re a lot older.”
Former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin, a frequent traveler on the 89th’s aircraft as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hailed the wing’s personnel, purpose, and mission.
“It’s absolutely critical,” Allvin said. “We’re trying to manage making sure that fleet is sufficient to the needs of the leadership, and trying to balance it with all the other budget woes that we and others have. … I think that technology is also advancing faster than those aircraft are. … We need to make sure those can adapt and integrate onto our somewhat aging platforms.”
The wing treats its planes like the flying limos they are. Planes are washed down on return, rinsed, soaped, and scrubbed. The VC-25As, Robinson said, are hand polished.
Inside, passengers get special care and are carefully attended to. Flight attendants attend culinary school, paying attention to every little detail: quality, presentation, health, religious or other dietary restrictions, and presentation. Safety, though, is mission critical. “We are one of the few kitchens in the world that’s allowed to feed the President of the United States,” Robinson said. “I take that incredibly seriously.”
Culinary training tracks everything from freshness to proper preparation. “You’re learning everything regarding food safety, but even techniques for pairing food, wine, and meat and cheese pairings—how to cook things to a point where it’s cooked the right way,” said Hartsfield, who is also an instructor. “There are certain foods that you have to be mindful of the proper way to cook—like lamb, the proper way to cook it is where there’s a little—just a little smidge—with some red or pink in there. But we make sure we’re doing it safely.”
As wing commander, a role Robinson assumed in July, one of his jobs is to greet President Trump as he exits Marine One and to walks with him to Air Force One, and vice versa. It’s an experience that never gets old, and for which there’s no real preparation.
“Every time you get to talk to the President of the United States, it is a one-off experience that most people will never get,” Robinson said. “I welcome him home or wish him good luck on his mission, and then I wait for him to decide whether he would like to talk or not. … We’ve had great conversations, and he always treats me just amazingly. But I also try to look at his mood. He is not there to entertain me. I am there for him, not the other way around.”
