California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has petitioned President Bush to add money to the Pentagon’s 2008 budget for additional C-17s. In a letter dated Tuesday, California’s top executive noted that the closure of Boeing’s Long Beach production facility would mean the loss of nearly 11,000 jobs—about half at the plant and half at suppliers around the state. Boeing has said that today is the day it must make a decision to begin shutting down the production line.
The Pentagon announced new long-term agreements with four defense companies May 13 to develop and produce large numbers of low-cost cruise missiles. And while the effort will focus mostly on the Army to start, it pairs with Air Force efforts to find more affordable munitions.