‘Doomsday Plane’ Contract for $13 Billion Goes to Sierra Nevada

Sierra Nevada Corp. has won a $13 billion contract to develop a successor to the “Doomsday Plane,” the E-4B command and control aircraft on which the president would fly in in event of national emergency such as a nuclear attack, the Pentagon announced Friday.

Closely held Sierra Nevada will proceed into development and production of what’s now called the “Survivable Airborne Operations Center.” Work is expected to be complete by July 2036, according to a Defense Department statement.