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Air Force awarded Boeing a $895 million contract for C-17 operational enhancements and development activities over the next 10 years. This “GLOBE contract,” as it is known, is an umbrella deal that includes “a variety of potential modernization projects,” a Boeing spokeswoman told the Daily Report. She said company and Air Force officials would define the project details each year. “We are working collaboratively with the Air Force to develop technology roadmaps that identify modernization needs in the near future,” said the spokeswoman on Jan. 3 in a written response to questions. Anticipated work in the near term includes cockpit/crew-workload-reduction projects, she noted. Under the contract, Boeing will also conduct a producibility enhancement and program improvement study to “identify specific opportunities and additional communication, navigation, and air traffic management improvements,” she said. The Pentagon announced the GLOBE contract in its list of major contracts for Dec. 28. To date, Boeing has delivered 218 of the 224 C-17s that the Air Force has ordered. After factoring the loss of one C-17 in a 2010 crash, this will leave a fleet of 223 of these airlifters. (For more on C-17 modernization, see Mobility Maturation from Air Force Magazine’s 2012 archive.)
Depot-level maintenance took longer than expected for nearly three-quarters of Air Force aircraft from fiscal 2019-2024, according to a new report, as unplanned repairs rise across the aging fleet. The report, from the Government Accountability Office, also found that the extent of the delays has been masked because officials often revise their target timelines after unplanned work occurs.