Pentagon Takes First Step Toward Building Supersonic Air Force One
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:
Pentagon takes first step toward building supersonic Air Force One:
Air Force One is already one of the fastest passenger planes in the world - but the Pentagon wants to make it a lot faster.
The U.S. Air Force recently awarded a contract to the aviation firm Exosonic to begin developing a presidential aircraft that can travel at supersonic speeds. The research award, reportedly worth $1 million, will fund work to "modify" Exosonic's existing plans for a supersonic commercial plane into a proposal for a presidential-grade aircraft.
In a Twitter post this week, the Air Force's Life Cycle Management Center said the contract is intended to "develop a low-boom supersonic executive transport aircraft that will allow key decision makers and teams to travel around the world in half the time it takes now!"
The current version of Air Force One, a Boeing 747-200B series aircraft, can travel at a maximum speed of .84 mach[sic], according to Boeing.
[...] Meanwhile, Boeing already is building an updated Air Force One. The Air Force awarded Boeing a $3.9 billion contract to build two 747-8 aircraft to replace the existing 747-200B planes.
The new planes are expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
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