The United States Air Force (USAF) is currently weighing whether to restart production of the C-17 Globemaster III or commit to designing and buying an entirely new aircraft.
This comes after the US Congress tasked the Air Force with providing a detailed analysis on the matter by no later than March 1, 2027.
The C-17 is an amazingly useful piece of military logistics kit. Among other things, it is able to haul roughly 77.5 tonnes, carry tanks, helicopters, troops, and oversized cargo. Importantly, it can also operate from relatively short or rough airfields, refuel in the air, and perform airdrops.
The USAF has around 220 of them, alongside 52 much larger C-5Ms, and expects to keep C-17s flying potentially until 2075. But no new ones are being made; existing aircraft require ongoing maintenance and repair.
The crux of the issue is that production of this incredibly versatile aircraft ceased in 2015. This means that any existing spare parts are all that’s available to keep them airborne without making new ones.
The problem is that restarting an aircraft factory after 11 years isn’t like switching a machine back on. Boeing would have to find out what tooling still exists, rebuild jigs and dies, locate or replace hundreds of suppliers, requalify manufacturing processes, recruit specialist workers, and possibly redesign components that are no longer available.
Back in 2006, estimates for stopping and restarting C-17 production ranged from about $918 million to $2 billion, and that was assuming a much shorter shutdown. Today’s bill could therefore run into several billions before the first new aircraft was produced.
Source: Interesting Engineering
