ST. LOUIS, May 11, 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today delivered the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) second C-17 Globemaster III during a ceremony at the company's Long Beach, Calif., C-17 manufacturing facility.
Senior RAAF officials, led by Air Commodore Jack Plenty, commander, Air Lift Group, joined Boeing leaders and selected employees for the event.
"The acceptance of the second RAAF C-17 was eagerly anticipated by the Australian Defence Force," said Plenty. "Our C-17 squadron already has conducted several inter-continental, time-critical tasks over the past five months since the arrival of the first aircraft in December 2006. These tasks could never have been achieved if we did not have such a responsive global airlift capability."
The latest advanced airlifter joins the RAAF's first C-17 at the No. 36 Squadron, a combat airlift unit based in RAAF Base Amberley, west of Brisbane. The remaining two RAAF C-17s under contract to Boeing will arrive in Australia in 2008.
"Once again, our Boeing team has made good on its commitment to deliver our customer a world-class airlift capability, on time and on budget," said Dave Bowman, Boeing vice president and C-17 program manager.
Australia's C-17s are part of a worldwide fleet that also includes 164 U.S. Air Force C-17s and four United Kingdom Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft. The RAF will receive its fifth C-17 in early 2008. Boeing will deliver the first of four C-17s to the Canadian Forces in August. Boeing is on contract to design, build, deliver and support 190 U.S. Air Force C-17s. The last scheduled delivery is in mid-2009.
The C-17 is the world's only tactical airlift aircraft with strategic capabilities. Capable of flying between continents and landing on short, austere runways, the C-17 is used globally for both military and humanitarian missions.