The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) took delivery of its sixth Boeing C-17 strategic transport on 1 November, less than five months after signing a contract to acquire the aircraft.
To be assigned to the air force's 36 Sqn at Amberley air base in Queensland, the transport was accepted at Boeing's Long Beach production site in California. Canberra signed a deal to purchase the platform on 6 June.
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"The C-17 is a capability that has improved Australia's reach locally, regionally and globally," said Air Marshal Geoff Brown, chief of air force, during a delivery ceremony. "It has fundamentally enhanced our strategic airlift agility to meet the Australian Defence Force air mobility requirements."
Boeing says Australia's new aircraft is the 30th C-17 to have been delivered to an international operator, in addition to 218 built for the US Air Force. The RAAF's earlier five examples entered use between 2006 and 2011, as recorded by Flightglobal's MiliCAS database.
Source: Flight International
