The Air Force has increased the number of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles it intends to procure by 60 to 151, according to the Pentagon’s latest selected acquisition report to Congress. The increase is primarily due to the extension of the Air Force’s launch manifest from Fiscal 2018 to Fiscal 2028 and the EELV program’s life extension from Fiscal 2020 to Fiscal 2030, as directed in Air Force Space Command’s strategic master plan, states the SAR, issued on May 23. Accordingly, the total projected costs of the EELV program have more than doubled, increasing by $35.7 billion to $70.7 billion, according to the report. Projected savings of $1.7 billion from initiatives like a revised contracting strategy have “partially offset” the cost increase, states the SAR. (For more SAR coverage, see F-35 Costs Decrease and More Extended-Range JASSMs.)
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…