For nearly two decades, Boeing Co.'s massive 747 jumbo jet has served as the president's flying White House, awing world leaders and projecting America's might wherever it landed.
But in the next decade, "United States of America" could end up being emblazoned on an even bigger plane that has been a symbol of European unity and pride.
The 747 Air Force One is slated to be replaced, and the new plane is likely to be stuffed with top-secret, high-tech gadgetry, including countermeasures to thwart missile attacks, and aerial refueling capability so it can fly for days without landing.
That's on top of comforts that are likely to make even the world's richest jet setters envious, including a medical facility and lavish staterooms with showers.
What it will not have is a presidential escape pod, analysts said, a feature that became an urban legend thanks to a 1997 action film named after the presidential plane and starring Harrison Ford.
It is unlikely that President-elect Barack Obama will get a chance to fly in a new Air Force One because the replacement isn't slated to begin flying until 2016 at the earliest. It takes as long as three years just to modify the plane so it can withstand attacks and enable the president to command from the sky.
But for the first time, the Pentagon has raised the prospect that the replacement for the most photographed and most advanced passenger jet in the world could come from a firm overseas.
In a move that is certain to raise the political ire of "buy American" supporters in Congress, the Air Force has requested information from aircraft makers, including Airbus of Europe, to replace the aging 747 jet. Boeing, headquartered in Chicago, has built presidential jets since the early 1960s.
"I just can't see how they could allow that to happen," John Pike, director of the military policy website GlobalSecurity.org, said about congressional reaction to an Airbus plane. "The American president getting off of an American plane has been a major part of the U.S. being a superpower."
The purchase of an Airbus plane is not as farfetched as some would think, several analysts said.
The Pentagon's request for information made quietly last week set in motion an open-ended contest. Airbus and Boeing are the only two companies capable of building an aircraft as large and sophisticated as that required by the leader of the world's most powerful country. Last year, the double-decked Airbus A380 unseated the 747 as the world's largest passenger plane.
