No more than 180 C-17s figure in the QDR, say senior USAF officials. How that will play against the push by Congress to up the number by 42 is unclear at this time. Air Force officials plan to investigate how they could stretch the production line an extra year or two. Boeing already has approval to market the aircraft to allies, but even at its present, amortized price of around $200 million a copy, the C-17 is a really big-ticket item for even America’s wealthiest allies. Japan and the UK are two possible customers; the UK leases some C-17s already. Air Force officials also would like to see some older, less refined C-17s, go to airline and air freight participants of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.