Engines
New U.S. Air Force Ops Platform Will Get Upgraded Engines
GE Aerospace Defense & Systems is pursuing new opportunities for its engines in military applications
The U.S. Air Force's Survivable Airborne Operations Center Boeing 747-8 aircraft
The U.S. Air Force's Survivable Airborne Operations Center is based on a Boeing 747-8 aircraft powered by GE Aerospace's GEnx-2B engines. © GE Aerospace

Sierra Nevada Corp (SNC) has contracted with GE Aerospace to help overhaul and upgrade the GEnx-2B engines for the Boeing 747-8 chosen as the platform for the U.S. Air Force’s Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC). The companies will modify the widebody airliner under the $13 billion Pentagon contract won in April by SNC to replace the current E-4B Nightwatch aircraft, now powered by GE’s CF6 engines.

Expected to run into the 2030s, the SAOC program calls for SNC to take responsibility for developing and integrating the capability the Air Force needs. According to GE, the GEnx engines will deliver up to a 15 percent improvement in fuel efficiency compared with the current CF6 turbofans while running 30 percent quieter and reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides and other gases.