The Air Force still is evaluating efforts to modernize C-5 airlifters, which if successful, officials say could offset a reduced buy of C-17s. However, Boeing has not developed formal estimates of what it would cost to reconstitute the C-17 line if the C-5 program doesn’t work out, but Dan Page, Boeing’s director of airlift business development, said it would be “in the billions.” The effects of shutting down the C-17 line would be felt within less than a month, since some companies do only C-17 work and could go out of business. After a few months, the workforce would disperse, and Page said that getting qualified workers back and certified would be a lengthy and expensive process. Some 25,000 people are employed by the program, with economic ripple effects of $8.4 billion.
Some Colorado officials are seeking to distance themselves from the state’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to relocate U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs, Colo., to Huntsville, Ala.—signaling a decreased appetite for extending the yearslong political debate that has dogged the combatant command’s future plans.
