Boeing Says It Must Close Line This Year: Boeing officials say they must have new orders for the C-17 airlifter this year or they will have to close the production line. Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems chief, Jim Albaugh, told Dow Jones Newswires that the company has not gotten any new foreign orders since the four it is building for Australia, so it will have to start shutting down the line, if Congress does not approve an unfunded request from the Air Force for seven additional C-17s. Buying more than the currently planned 180 C-17s has support in both houses of Congress.
The Air Force budget would grow to $234 billion while Space Force spending would shrink to $26 billion under the White House's yearly ask.