Posted on 05/23/2007 12:25:00 PM PDT by Freeport
Boeing claims it is closer than ever to launching the long-awaited BC-17 commercial derivative of its C-17 strategic transport, but says the growing gap in guaranteed production beyond delivery of the final contracted aircraft in 2009 makes this, and any further potential study derivatives, increasingly expensive to develop.
“We have several customers with money that have given us requests for proposals,” says C-17 vice president and programme manager Dave Bowman, who adds: “I’ve never received RFPs before.”
Although the company declines to identify the interested groups, Bowman says “this is the closest we’ve ever been to launching this programme, and we have got actual proposals in hand from customers.
“We’re looking forward to launching the programme, which could initially be for between 30 and 60 aircraft,” says Bowman, who adds the potential market “could be upwards of 100 aircraft.”
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
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My picture’s bigger.
And all through the halls of AirBust not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse (rat).
LOL
Again?.........
Good to see him back at work. Something wonderful, indeed.
What benefits does a commercial version of the C-17 have over other commercial aircraft? Short field landings?
And the C-17B’s supposed to be able to but down on a sandy beach... Not that I’d particularly want to try a stunt like that, but that’s the spec.
They need to improve that paint scheme a little bit.
why did Cheney do that?
Short field landings on rough fields including gravel runways. They could be used to carry large cargo to remote regions of the world where Fedex and other conventional freighters can't land.
Probably to protect the C-17 line.
Skydivers?
Paratroopers use it; must be one heck of a windblast!
That is one of them. They can operate out of airports that other aircraft of it’s size cannot.
However, according to the GAO:
Military Airlift: Comparison of C-5 and C-17 Airfield Availability (Letter Report, 07/11/94, GAO/NSIAD-94-225).
The Air Force has greatly overestimated the number of airfields worldwide that can accommodate the wide-bodied, C-17 cargo plane; when runway strength is considered, the C-17's wartime advantage over its C-5 predecessor shrinks from 6,400 to about 900 airfields. The C-17 advantage dwindles even further when only airfields that have been determined by the Air Force to be suitable for military operations are considered. So far, the Air Force has surveyed about 2,800 airfields as suitable for military operations. When wartime landing requirements, including minimum runway strength, are considered, the C-17's wartime airfield advantage is 145. When airfields in the United States, Canada, and Mexico are excluded, the C-17's wartime advantage falls to 95 airfields. Although the Air Face claims that the C-17's ability to land at small, austere airfields during wartime is a significant military advantage, the Defense Department has identified only three such airfields that the C-17 would use in major regional contingency scenarios; two are in Korea and one is in Saudi Arabia.
AlGore will require new owners of this plane to buy some SERIOUS carbon credits.
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