Air Force avoids taxpayer oversight to fund over 50 secret aircraft
By Marcus Boone ·
Taxpayers were shut out of competitive bidding for decades as the Air Force used a secret shortcut to build and maintain over 50 surveillance and jamming aircraft.
The United States Air Force has a specific way of buying things when it does not want the usual paperwork to slow it down. It is called Big Safari. According to a program description mirrored by the Federation of American Scientists, Big Safari is the program office responsible for the "sustainment and modification of specialized special mission aircraft." It is not just an office; it is a "specialized process of acquisition and contracting management" designed to support roughly 20 to 24 projects at any given time.
In the world of government spending, "streamlined" is often a polite word for "unsupervised." The public record indicates that Big Safari operates under procurement procedures that allow the Air Force to designate its own contractors, creating a sole-source arrangement. This removes the friction of competitive bidding, ensuring that the requirements of the mission are met without the interference of the transparency measures that typically govern the expenditure of taxpayer funds. The FAS record notes that the process is "already far more streamlined than any other program due to the nature of its authority."
"Quick-Reaction Basis"
This agility is presented as a virtue of management, but it serves a specific purpose: the rapid deployment of surveillance and electronic warfare capabilities. The FAS text states that Big Safari is used to accomplish special projects on a "quick-reaction basis," providing the logistical support for over 50 aircraft. This urgency extends to the very structures of the Air Force, with program management handled by Detachment 4, 645th Materiel Squadron, based out of the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.
Even as the government touted "Acquisition Reform Initiatives" to realize cost savings—citing a reduction in the F-16 Pod program as an example—the core of Big Safari remained untouched. The program exists to ensure that the most sensitive tools of aerial surveillance can be modified and maintained without the lag of standard military bureaucracy. For the RC-135 fleet, this shortcut was not a luxury but a necessity. For thirty years, these aircraft depended on the Big Safari process for their requirements management.
Pacer Coin and the RC-135
By February 1995, the Air Combat Command approved an Operational Requirements Document to standardize the needs of the RC-135 fleet, which includes the V, W, X, S, and U models. This document was not meant to replace the Big Safari practices but to work "in conjunction with them." It covered everything from the airframes and sensors to the datalinks and ground processing. When the government needs to listen to the world, it uses the RC-135, and Big Safari ensures those ears stay sharp.
The reach of the program extends into the deepest corners of the Air Force's specialized inventory. Big Safari was the only office that attempted to promote the 1994 reactivation of the SR-71 Blackbird. It also manages the "Pacer Coin" C-130 platform, which is explicitly described as a system that "collects airborne and ground signals intelligence." Other assets under this umbrella include the "Rivet Rider," a C-130 converted into an airborne color television broadcast station. These are not merely aircraft; they are flying nodes of an intelligence network, bought and paid for through a process that prioritizes speed and secrecy over public accountability.
Palmdale, California
Much of this work has been outsourced to the private sector, specifically the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. The relationship is symbiotic. Lockheed Martin transformed standard C-130s into an array of specialized tools: the MC-130E Combat Talon, the EC-130H Compass Call and Rivet Fire, the EC-130E Commando Solo, and the AC-130H Gunship Special Operations Forces Improvement.
In October 1996, this partnership entered a new phase. The Air Force began transitioning its Big Safari class programs from Lockheed Martin facilities in Ontario, California, to a new location in Palmdale. This shift was marked by the arrival of an EC-130H Compass Call electronic warfare jamming aircraft. Palmdale became the hub for the maintenance and upgrade of these jamming platforms, as well as the Pacer Coin and Rivet Rider systems.
According to the FAS record, the first of these transitioned aircraft was scheduled to return to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona in December 1997. The document leaves the specific outcomes of these upgrades unstated, but the pattern is clear: as long as the mission is "special," the rules of acquisition remain an exception.