Imagine if Boeing Really Had Vision — The C17x Dominator

The Depth Charge ^ | Johnny Depth

[appeal2]

Just for the sake of discussion—what if Boeing wasn’t a bloated, risk-averse, demoralized shell of its former self? What if, instead of sitting on its legacy platforms, it unleashed its brightest minds in a modern Skunk Works to reimagine the greatest military cargo plane ever built—the C-17 Globemaster III—for the 21st century?

Let’s call it the C-47X Dominator.

This isn’t a leak. It’s not sourced. It’s just a thought experiment. But imagine:

Re-engineering the C-17 with new-generation LEAP or GEnx engines Using advanced composites to lighten the frame Swapping out hardened battlefield tech that’s no longer needed in civilian ops Fitting the cabin with dual-purpose cargo-passenger seating Integrating short-field takeoff/landing capability with new automation and digital cockpit systems The result? An aircraft that can land nearly anywhere, load and unload faster than any freighter, carry more than a 767, and burn far less fuel than a 747. The kind of machine that could transform regional logistics, open up secondary cities, and reset the cargo-passenger airline model. Think FedEx meets Breeze meets SpaceX.

We’re not saying it’s happening. We’re just saying if Boeing weren’t asleep at the stick, this is what they’d be working on. And maybe—just maybe—someone on the inside already is.

Call it the C-47X. Or call it common sense. But if the future of aviation isn’t flexible, fast, and field-deployable… then what are we even building?

[appeal2]

Click through to the original article to see a pic of the proposed C47 Dominator and the Flight Safety Card

[Regulator]

Boeing isn’t in charge of dreaming up new military aircraft. The military is. If they want concepts, they’ll put out a RFP for such. Until then, the companies won’t invest a dime in it.

And they’re right to operate that way.

Blame the government, that’s the world they made.

[Jim W N]

Call it C-47X Dominator or call it common sense - a thought experiment

[READINABLUESTATE]

What if, pigs could fly.

[DFG]

Already had the B-32 Dominator. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/b-32-dominator

[Wuli]

1. Vision is hard to sell to investors and stockholders looking for quarterly returns on their capital and 2. Modern aircraft require huge capital investments before any contracts for what will come from that investment, which 3. squeezes the executive decisions between 1. and 2. and 2., going on the known versus the unknown usually wins out.

Musk can afford vision with SpaceX, because unlike Boeing SpaceX is privately held.

To get a Boeing with vision you have to get a consortium who will make a takeover effort to take it private.

[pfflier]

Blame the government, that’s the world they made.

Anyone that has worked with government contracting knows this. There is so much red tape that any hope of innovation is squashed in the name of compliance to contract requirements, even to absurd levels, dictated by the government.

Unfortunately, the average guy on the street only sees what is fed to them as "news". It is far too easy to spray paint a contractor as "greedy" and slam the MIC than to address the root cause.

If they knew what additional costs a limited production toilet seat constrained by Mil-Q-9858 and Mil Spec mandated flowdown adds to costs, they would be educated enough to talk about the subject.

The contractor is in business for a profit, the government regulation bloats the cost that profit margin is applied to.

[Rinnwald]

If the author is talking about a civilian C-17, that’s already been tried. The MD-17 didn’t get any buyers and was cancelled.

Also, the C-17 factory closed down in 2015, so the author’s hot mess fantasy of creative kitbashing an actual airplane isn’t happening.

[dljordan]

Look at that tail. Damn.

[Regulator]

“If they knew what additional costs a limited production toilet seat constrained by Mil-Q-9858 and Mil Spec mandated flowdown adds to costs”

And add to that the fact that the production run is gonna be maybe 200 of them, when a commercial version is in the millions, the non-recurring costs completely swamp the recurring costs and yeah, you get that $7000 toilet seat. That John Conyers is going to hype up as a way to make himself look like a crusading cost cutter...when in fact the idiot was a spendthrift moron.

[IndispensableDestiny]

Give Boeing a cost plus contract and they’ll look at the concept.