Dayton's Sierra Nevada hails big next-gen Survivable Airborne Operations Center contract win

Thomas Gnau, Dayton Daily News, Ohio
·2 min read

May 22—Dayton aviation MRO company Sierra Nevada Corp. Wednesday officially acknowledged its win of a multi-billion-dollar Air Force contract to update the Survivable Airborne Operations Center or "SAOC" plane.

Much of the work in modernizing and replacing the Air Force's current fleet of E-4B "Nightwatch" aircraft will happen in Sierra Nevada's Dayton MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) hangars at Dayton International Airport. Work will also take place at the company's Denver facilities.

The aircraft serves as an airborne command center for the president (POTUS), secretary of defense (SECDEF) and chairs of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) to ensure continued critical command, control and communication during national emergencies, Sierra Nevada noted in a new release Wednesday.

The contract marks one of the largest aircraft modernization contracts awarded to a company other than the original aircraft manufacturer and indicates a new acquisition approach, Sierra Nevada said.

"SNC has built a reputation as a trusted partner in delivering transformative solutions that help safeguard freedom," said Fatih Ozmen, Sierra Nevada founder and chief executive. "With a focus on open architecture, our SAOC proposal concentrated on providing the services we are widely known for: best-of-breed innovative solutions. We are ready and excited for the opportunity to design the mobile command center of the future."

The company's SAOC team includes some familiar industry names — and familiar Dayton-area names, including Collins Aerospace, GE Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, FSI Defense, Greenpoint Technologies Inc. and Rolls-Royce.

"Our successful SAOC bid is a direct result of the long-term strategic vision of SNC's owners and our extraordinary team of engineers, program managers, technicians and leaders who possess the ingenuity and know-how to develop a solution tailor-made for the mission at hand," said Mark C. Williams, SNC's senior vice president of strategy.