The 
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.)
The Air Force is shoring up its cyber defenses both on and off base for critical infrastructure such as water and electrical power, and industry experts are calling for more, even specialized, dedicated microgrids offsite to support USAF operations in case of a total blackout caused by cyberattacks.
