Boeing on Friday directed its C-17 program suppliers to “stop work on uncommitted airplanes.” The company said that it could no longer “continue carrying the program,” after spending its own money for more than a year to sustain the production line while the Pentagon attempted to sort out its mobility requirements. Despite late interest from NATO for eight of the new airlifters, Boeing says that international orders and commitments and the three additional C-17s included in the yet-to-be finalized 2007 DOD budget “are not enough to sustain continued production beyond mid-2009.”
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.