C-17 Industrial Base
The Long Beach-based C-17 Globemaster III program is California's last remaining aircraft production line and the last wide bodied military production program in the U.S. About 5,000 Boeing employees work on the C-17, or directly support it in Long Beach. The C-17 has three major Boeing suppliers: St. Louis (about 1,000 employees), Macon, Ga. (about 600 employees), and Mesa, Arizona (about 200 employees). In addition, the C-17 has about 700 supplier companies in 42 states -- a supplier workforce of about 25,000. Total estimated annual economic impact of the C-17 across the U.S. is $8.4 Billion.
Boeing is aggressively pursuing additional international orders, a commercial variant of the C-17, and an enhanced version of the C-17, known as C-17B. We're reviewing every option to bridge the production gap that begins in mid-2009. But these options can only be sustained by a long-term commitment from the Department of Defense for additional U.S. Air Force C-17s.
DoD's long term airlift requirements currently call for several hundred new and specialized tactical airlifters beginning in the 2020 + timeframe. A modified C-17, called C 17B, can meet more than 80% of these future airlift requirements, perhaps a decade sooner and at a savings of billions of dollars. Initial fielding of a C-17B could occur as early as 2015, if development and demonstration funding begins in FY2010 -- but only if the current C-17 supplier base and production line remain viable.
Current orders will carry C-17 production to August 2009. Without an additional Air Force commitment, Boeing will be forced to begin the nationwide C 17 supply base shutdown this year due to the 34 month supplier lead time to build a C-17.
If the industrial base is lost, it will be prohibitively expensive to reconstitute if more C 17s are needed. US leadership in military airlift would be ceded to Europe.
Go to the C-17 Tutorial (clicking on this link will open a new browser window)