Earlier this year, the U.S. Air Force, in conjunction with the Secretary of Defense and the White House, asked Congress for funds to purchase a new, state-of-the-art jet to supplement its small fleet of transport aircraft for VIP officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris.

However, lawmakers reportedly rejected not only a request to reallocate existing funding to purchase the new jet but have also nixed the requested funds from drafts of the still unsettled budget for the next fiscal year that begins in October, according to Breaking Defense.

In essence, Congress has told the Pentagon and the White House to make do with the VIP transport fleet they already have rather than expand it with the acquisition of a new plane.

The Air Force wants another VIP transport jet

At issue here is an Air Force request for around $329 million to purchase a new variant of the C-40 transport jet, which will supplement an existing fleet of four larger C-32 transport jets that are used to ferry around the "Top Five" of federal officials, including "the vice president, first spouse, secretary of defense, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state."

An Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense that while the C-32s met the service's "standards" individually, the fleet as a whole "is unable to fully support all Top Five customers" because there are only four planes. As such, "The current C-32A fleet can only support 59 percent of the Top Five user requests, which is the primary contributing factor for the Air Force to request additional aircraft."

The outlet noted that the older and larger C-32 jets are militarized versions of the discontinued Boeing 757 airliner, and they are decked out with advanced communications and safety technology with an interior that is specifically designed to support top VIPs, including the vice president, first lady, or members of the president's Cabinet or Congress.

In comparison, the newer and smaller C-40 is a militarized version of Boeing's 737 airliner, and it is similarly situated as an "office in the sky" that similarly boasts advanced communications and safety equipment and is typically used to transport senior military officials or members of the Cabinet or Congress.

Request submitted in May

In May, FlightGlobal reported that the Air Force asked Congress for $329 million to purchase a Boeing C-40D to supplement its VIP fleet that included the four C-32As that service the "Top Five" officials and four less advanced C-40Bs that service other senior officials.

"While C-40B aircraft can be used as backups for top-five missions, these aircraft also serve other primary customers, including combatant commanders," an Air Force spokesperson said at the time, and added of the C-32As, "Four aircraft to support five customers every day, in addition to meeting depot maintenance and modification installation schedules, plus additional surge requirements, means that there are missions a C-32A aircraft won’t be able to fulfill."

The Air Force submitted the request as part of the Fiscal Year 2025 budget but also asked if the funds could be "reprogrammed" and shifted from elsewhere within the current FY2024 budget. However, the request for the new VIP transport jet raised some eyebrows as it was made alongside plans to reduce the size of the fighter jet fleet.

Congress said no ... at least for now

As the Breaking Defense report noted, congressional lawmakers quickly denied the Air Force's request to reprogram the existing budget to purchase the new C-40 to supplement the VIP fleet.

Likewise, sources indicate that legislators in the House have also either zeroed out or substantially reduced the funding request in drafts of the FY2025 Defense budget that is still being worked out in committees.

That said, sources also indicated that the full $329 million request was still intact in draft bills in the Senate, so it remains possible that the Air Force will eventually get its new C-40 if the Senate's version of the appropriations bill survives negotiations and consolidation with the House bill.

Of course, there will likely be a delay until some time next year in that regard, as Congress just recently passed a short-term stopgap spending measure that extends the FY2024 budget until mid-December to cover the first three months of the new fiscal year while the appropriations process for next year's budget remains ongoing.