Korean Air 747-8s To Become Next USAF “Doomsday” Planes!
Sierra Nevada Corporation will use five Korean Air 747-8s to make replacements for the E-4B “Doomsday” aircraft of the U.S. Air Force.
We recently saw that Sierra Nevada Corp. won a USAF contract worth $13 billion, to supply replacement aircraft to the E-4B fleet. Boeing built these aircraft using the 747-200 airframe as its basis.
Photo: Berend VerheijenThe oldest of these jets first entered service around 50 years ago, initially as an E-4A. The first E-4B flew in 1978, with the previous aircraft getting upgraded to the same specification later. All four E-4Bs are older than the presidential VC-25As, which also use the 747-200 airframe.
When Sierra Nevada won the E-4B replacement contract, we didn’t know where they would get replacement jets from. This question was answered this week, with the news that Korean Air will sell five 747-8s to the American company.
Photo: Kuroc622Korean Air itself did not identify the five aircraft as 747-8s. However, Reuters reported tha..