Rockwell Collins awarded $209 million USAF contract

Rockwell Collins will upgrade the communications gear on up to 40 specialty aircraft used to transport top government VIPs under a contract announced Wednesday.

The $208,905,836 contract will provide secure voice, data and video communications for up the "very important person special air mission fleet" under the United States Air Force contract posted on a Pentagon web site.

The  contract calls for video teleconferencing systems, voice over Internet protocol phones for passenger stations, operator work stations, and local area networks.

The trade publication Defense Contracts International reports that the special VIP fleet carries Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense  Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as members of the Cabinet and Congress.

The contract will provide a standard communications architecture for all of the VIP aircraft to replace systems that are currently unique to each aircraft.

The VIP fleet includes the C-32 "Air Force Two," a modified Boeing 757-200. I also includes  C-37A based on the intercontinental Gulfstream V, the C-20 based on the Gulfstream II turbofan aircraft, and the C-40B/C, a modified version of the Boeing 737-700 business jet.

Rockwell Collins officials had no immediate comment on the award.