According to a report by Flight Global, the Air Force not only plans to take on lead C-17 maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) work but also MRO for the F-22. USAF announced earlier this year that it would establish a new integrated program office at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia to oversee C-17 fleet sustainment with support from Boeing, meaning Boeing would no longer lead the MRO effort. Boeing has sustained the C-17 fleet for more than 10 years under performance-based logistics contracts that provide for a specified level of readiness rather than payment for individual parts or services. Gus Urzua, VP for Boeing Globemaster Sustainment Partnership, called the change “definitely a paradigm shift,” per Flight Global. He said that instead of Boeing overseeing the entire C-17 MRO and “guaranteeing aircraft availability,” the company will now simply provide a “robust and responsive” supply system.
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…