“Taking smart risks is very important,” said Ozmen, who transformed Sierra Nevada Corp. into the largest female-owned defense contractor of USA. “It’s a big part of being a businesswoman, of leading. Without that, you’re really just following what’s happening,” she admitted.
Talks for the project with the Air Force began in 2020, along with investments: US$175 million were used to modernize Sierra Nevada Corp.’s digital infrastructure, focusing on AI and digital modeling.
Then, before getting the contract, US$100 million were to build a 747-sized hangar near an Air Force base in dayton, Ohio.
The contract of Survival Air Operations CenterWhat is the name of the project? Doomsdayis a mountain of technical and management challenges. To acquire it, the Ozmen had to agree to carry out a minority part of the project at a fixed price and assuming cost overruns.
Sierra Nevada Corp. will be limited to the production phase, so it likely won’t have to take on unexpected costs during design. “Boeing, the only other company to bid for the project, I was not so interested in applying innovationreduce costs or reduce the schedule,” Ozmen said.
He project Doomsday will raise the profile and definition of the legacy of Ozmen and her husband, both 66 years old and owners of 87% of Sierra Nevada Corp. Eren has a slightly larger stake and together they are worth US$7.8 billion.
At best, it could drive a rise to the big aerospace leagues.
The planes of the Last Judgment
The four E-4B Doomsday aircraft are designed to provide “constant, uninterrupted survival communications“said the colonel David Leaumontcommanding the fleet, which also regularly transports the Secretary of Defense.
The more than 40 different communications systems in airplanes are built to resist electromagnetic pulse which would instantly fry nearby electronics in the event of a nuclear attack.
These planes, which have been flying for 50 years and cost US$140,000 per hour of operation, can accommodate up to 111 people eachthey have conference rooms and combat stations.
They can also take off with just a few minutes’ notice, but they are nearing the end of their useful life. Sierra Nevada Corp. is on a mission to get the next generation flying by 2036.
The greats of the sector
The firm has been located in a intermediate development of defense aerospace industryfar from the giants like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman (income of US$67,600 and $39,300 million respectively).
Boeingof US$77.8 billion in sales, was considered the undisputed winner of the contract after designing the four current E-4B aircraft in 1970. Since then it had contracts to maintain them worth US$150 million per year and its 747-8 four-engine jumbo jets They were considered the best models of the new generation.
Boeing’s competition
Boeing, in addition to problems with its commercial 737s, has a series of defense contracts that became money pits. In short, he was not in a favorable position to bid aggressively. In addition, it was eliminated last fall after submitting an offer without considering the conditions of the Air Force, including waivers of intellectual property rights.
“If you lose a contract on which you were going to lose money, you actually gain“he stated Nicolas Owensaerospace analyst Morningstarwhen commenting on Boeing’s move. “If it is a really good manufacturer to make four airplanes Doomsday For the Air Force, what does that qualify you for? Maybe I can do more, but that’s all. “No one else is going to buy these planes,” he added.
After all, the same type of provision created a $2 billion (and growing) hole in Boeing’s balance sheet for the much-delayed next generation of presidential jets. Air Force One.
Boeing still owns the design data for the original plane, meaning Sierra Nevada Corp. will have to play fair and probably pay your biggest rival to advise you on issues such as metal wear or the safest way to reattach a part.
The Ozens
Ozmen’s husband Fatih is CEO of the firm and focuses on strategy and growth, while Eren oversees governance and finances. Before the pandemic, I had made the decision to compete for programs normally intended for “top-tier” aerospace defense companies.
“I challenged my executive management to think about how we could double the size of Sierra Nevada Corp. in five years“said Fatih.
The couple, now U.S. citizens, are originally from Türkiye, met in Ankara and were graduate students at the University of Nevada, Reno. Eren paid his tuition in part by cleaning offices at Sierra Nevada Corp., then a small defense company with fewer than 20 employees.
In the 1980s, she got a job there as a financial reporting officer and Faith as an engineering intern. After seeing how the company survived a series of financial crises, they decided to take out a loan on their home and buy the company for less than US$5 millionin 1994.
Sierra Nevada Corp. specializes in integrating existing aircraft with new technologies, but is best known for its space subsidiary, Sierra Spacewhich the Ozmen spun off in 2021. Sierra is developing its own space plane, the Dream Chaserwhich is scheduled for release next year.
He is also working with Blue Originof Jeff Bezosin a hugely ambitious plan for a space station to replace the ISS of US$150,000 millionconsidered the most expensive object ever built.
Sierra Space raised $1.7 billion from investors, most recently in September 2023 at a valuation of $5.3 billion.
Intellectual property and advice
As part of the deal, Sierra Nevada agreed not retain intellectual property of the project. Instead, the Air Force will be its owner, who will provide extensive guidance: “They understand that this is the first time the company has done something like this. They want us to be successful.”
You will also be assisted by experienced subcontractors such as Lockheed and General Electric.
This ‘open systems’ approach is unusual in the defense sector, where Companies often hold on to intellectual property to force the government to hire them for decades for lucrative maintenance and consulting jobs.
“This is how the industry evolves,” he said. Loren Thompsona veteran aerospace analyst. “There is a new player who operates in non-traditional ways and is willing to take risks. And there is an old player who resists having to match the conditions offered by the newcomer.”
Future contracts
Sierra Nevada Corp. has already achieved some initial milestones of the program, such as the construction of the second of at least four 90,000-square-foot hangars in Dayton and the flight of the first of the five used 747-8s he bought from Korea Airlines for US$675 million to the new facilities.
The other four planes are still in the air, carrying daily flights between Seoul and Atlantafor example, to passengers who are completely unaware that they are aboard a plane that could one day direct a US nuclear response.
The Ozmen company hopes that this contract will help it amass others, including the version of the Doomsday plane for the Navyto be announced in January and for which it competes with Northrop Grumman.
It has already secured notable contracts, including a $1 billion pact to develop long-range spy planes for the Army. The objective is to achieve the US$4,000 million of revenue in 2025 and triple its size in 2030.
“Once you show you can run a program this size, you’re going to get 10 more,” Ozmen said. According to Cai Von Rumohraerospace analyst TD Cowen: “It’s clear they moved up the corporate ladder.”
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
